Setting Ambitious Sales Target

Chairman Chung calls for selling 6.33 mln cars at home and abroad, stressing safety as the utmost feature

Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Automotive Group

Chairman Chung Mong-koo of the Hyundai Automotive Group said in his New Year's speech that the group aims to sell 6.33 million cars both at home and overseas this year.
The target is up 590,000 cars from last year's sales. The group will focus on such world regions and countries as the United States, Europe, China, India and South America to expand the global sales of cars produced by Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors at their car plants both at home and abroad, the chairman said at the group's New Year's ceremony on Jan. 3 at the headquarters in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul.
In his speech entitled "New Challenges for Future Growth," Chung went on to say that in order to achieve the sales goal, a close cooperation between car production plants and the marketing units spread all around the world is required more than ever to actively cope with a rapidly changing global management environment. He stressed again and again the need for quality, safety and customer satisfaction in order to achieve the target.
The chairman said every officer and staff member working for the group should have strong ideals and an unrelenting challenging spirit and do their best to make Hyundai Automotive Group an attention-getting conglomerate around the world.
Last year was a very significant year for the group with global sales of 5.75 million cars around the world and the construction of additional car plants in the United States and Russia to expand global production. There was also the completion of the Hyundai Steel plant in Dangjin as an integrated steel maker, creating synergy between the auto production and steel making sectors of the group, solidifying the group's image around the world.
Chung said that creative changes and endless challenge are the only strategy for survival in the future in this fast changing world and that everyone at the group should do more to open new roads in order to make the group the ultimate victor in the future.
In order to secure a core capacity for the group, quality management will be continuously upgraded to respond to customer confidence in Hyundai and Kia vehicles, and the development of new technologies in the environment friendly car sector will be pushed along with an expansion of investments to occupy the top echelon of core technologies and competitive superiority, Chung said. He said the group should find new growth engines for its sustainable growth.
The chairman said Hyundai Steel will have another blast furnace built to hike its steel production to 12 million tons annually, which will enhance the steel mill's competitive edge and also upgrade the quality of Hyundai and Kia cars by supplying superior quality steel plates.
The group will also expand its social contribution and strengthen its cooperative ties with its vendors as companions in growth through diverse activities by the group's affiliates.
The chairman, at the end of his speech, said the group will do its utmost to help the Korean economy grow further to rank among the advanced nations in the world, further expanding exports, currently ranked seventh largest in the world. Meeting the press after the speech, Chung said safety is the foremost quality that cars should have, speaking from his experience leading Hyundai and Kia car makers. He rated troubles with engines a secondary concern, adding that he will thoroughly focus on the safety of Hyundai and Kia cars in the future.
The chairman told reporters that the group should make cars of the highest quality, pointing out that both the K5 and K7 being marketed by Kia are good. He pointed out, however, that the choice is up to the customers, with success or failure hinging on how many cars are sold.nw