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SEOUL -- The son of Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo was picked on Friday to head affiliate Kia Motors Corp., a move some analysts said was likely to deepen worries about management ethics in South Korea.
Marking a rapid ascent to the top, Chung Eui-sun, 36, was named president of South Korea's No.2 carmaker after starting out at Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top carmaker, in 1999 as a purchasing director, Hyundai Motor Group said in a statement.
He graduated from Korea University in 1994 and completed a two-year graduate course at the University of San Francisco in the United States, majoring in business management.
The chairman's son-in-law, Shin Sung-jae, was also appointed vice president of steelmaker Hyundai Hysco Co., while his cousin Chung Il-sun was named as president of BNG Steel, both Hyundai Motor Group affiliates.
"The move to promote a number of executives, armed with rich experience and outstanding capability, is to help the companies overcome an unfavourable business environment at home and abroad and improve global competitiveness," Hyundai said in a statement.
Foreign investors and analysts say questionable management practices remain a key reason for the relatively low value of local stocks compared with other Asian markets, a factor known as the Korea Discount.
Investors have demanded a discount for buying South Korean shares because of a perception of lax management ethics, despite rapid progress by Korean firms in becoming global brand names.
"The move may not look a positive one to foreign investors," said an analyst at a foreign brokerage, adding that while not out of the blue, the promotion came quicker than had been expected.
"But it won't have any immediate adverse impact on share prices."
In an effort to take responsibility for global recalls tallying about 100,000 vehicles, Kia vice chairman Jeong Sung Eun resigned from the Korean automaker last week. Now, Kia has named a successor – company president Lee Hyong Keun.
Jeong, who was responsible for Kia’s production division, stepped down on September 3.
Although the move is officially being referred to as a resignation, Jeong likely had little choice but to leave the automaker as it continued to focus on improved quality, according to analysts.
Seoul-based Chae Hee Guen, of Meritz Securities told Bloomberg that “Jeong resigning is a preemptive action.”
Although an employee submitting resignation in the midst of a recall would be questioned at a North American or European automaker, it’s common practice among Korean and Japanese companies, which hold employees more personally responsible for corporate actions. After Toyota recalled more than 8 million vehicles during the last year, all automakers have heightened their responses to problematic vehicles.
“Quality is a top priority for Kia and Hyundai Motor Co. management,” Chae said. “They don’t want to tarnish their image.”
So far, Kia has recalled about 85,900 vehicles due to a wiring issue that could cause fires. On the list are 36,000 Soul small crossovers, 33,000 Sorento mid-size SUVs, 8,000 Mohave SUVs and 8,900 Cadenza sedans. Kia is set to recall an additional 18,147 Sorento, Borrego and Soul vehicles in China due to problems with circuit boards, according to the country’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Kia Motors Corp. has promoted design chief Peter Schreyer to president. He's the first non-Korean to attain the position at Kia.
German-born Schreyer, hired from Volkswagen AG in 2006, was promoted to president from executive vice president, Kia said in a statement Friday.
The appointment makes Frankfurt-based Schreyer, who remains chief design officer, one of three presidents at the company.
"The promotion shows Kia's key focus areas shifting from production and cost efficiency, which were traditionally considered more important, to design and research and development," said Shin Chung Kwan, an analyst at KB Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. "It also symbolizes Kia's urge to advance as a global company--showing a foreigner could make it to one of the top positions."
Kia and Hyundai Motor Co. are both headed by Chairman Chung Mong Koo. His son Chung Eui Sun hired Schreyer when the younger Chung was co-CEO of Kia six years ago.
Kia and Hyundai Motor are stepping up efforts to move upscale and away from their reputations as builders of cheap, utilitarian cars. Schreyer, the designer of the Audi TT coupe, was hired to overhaul Kia's lineup and allow the Seoul-based automaker to charge more for its models.
The promotion is also clear sign of Kia and Hyundai's ambition to outdo German rivals Volkswagen and BMW in design--a key part of a strategy that has helped the South Korean duo ramp up sales and gain market share even during the global economic downturn in 2009.
"We should not have let him go," Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech told Automotive News in an interview in November.
Before joining Kia, Schreyer thought Kia's designs were "neutral."
"I thought I wanted to give Kia a character and a family feel... If you come to a country and you see a Kia, you should recognize it immediately, like you recognize a BMW or Mercedes immediately," he said in an interview with Reuters in March.
At VW, Schreyer was head designer for the namesake brand and oversaw the development of the New Beetle, introduced in 1998.
The 59-year-old studied transportation design at the Royal College of Art in London, joined Audi in 1980 and later became the brand's head of design.
Schreyer has revised Kia's sedan lineup since joining the company. His team introduced a common front shape with the "tiger-nose" grille for Kia models in 2007, now featured by almost all the company's vehicles including the Optima, the revamped Sorento crossover, the Soul crossover and the Forte compact.
Kia, acquired by Hyundai in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, has been expanding sales at a faster pace than Hyundai Motor in markets such as the United States and Europe.
Combined, Kia and Hyundai Motor rank fifth in global car sales.
Inspired by Schreyer's success, Hyundai Motor lured ex-BMW designer Christopher Chapman to head its U.S. design center this year.
Luxury cars take back seat to Kia in JD Power quality study
Wed Jun 22, 2016
For the first time in 27 years, a non luxury brand, Kia Motors, scored tops in the annual initial quality study of new vehicles sold in the United States by J.D. Power, the business consultancy said.
For only the second time in the study's 30-year history, American brands got better marks collectively than their non-domestic counterparts.
And in another surprising result, the 2016 JD Power study showed that for the first time in a decade, owners of vehicles from non-premium brands reported fewer problems than those who own the more expensive cars, SUVs and pickup trucks.
"Expected reliability remains the most important consideration purchasing a new vehicle," said JD Power.
Kia was first among 33 car brands in the study, moving up from second place a year ago. Porsche, a sports luxury brand owned by Volkswagen AG, was second after finishing first a year earlier.
At the bottom was Daimler AG's Smart minicars, which scored well below next-to-last Fiat, and third-to-last Volvo.
Rounding out the top 10 highest-ranked vehicle brands, in order, were Hyundai Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, BMW, General Motors Co's biggest brand Chevrolet, and three in a tie, GM's Buick, Toyota's Lexus, and Ford Motor Co's Lincoln luxury brand.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' primary global brand Jeep and its largely North American brand Dodge were the most improved in the study, JD Power said.
Kia will debut its fresh logo before the end of the year. "The new emblem is similar to the one at the Imagine concept car, but it will look a bit different," Kia Motors President Park Han-woo told South Korea's Motorgraph, according to a story translated by The Korean Car Blog. The new badge would allegedly begin appearing on vehicles in October.
In December 2019, the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service published a trademark request from Kia that showed the new logo (above). There's a rumor that the company might reserve the new insignia for hybrid and electric models The Imagine (gallery above) debuted at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show as the brand's concept for an electric crossover. It featured a coupe-inspired exterior shape, and the company covered the body in six layers of chrome silver paint. Inside, there was an array of 21 screens on the dashboard.The Kia logo on the Imagine uses stark, angular lines for the strokes in each letter. The upper part of the K attaches to the top of the I. The bottom of the I connects to the lower part of the stylized A. In comparison, the existing emblem simply puts a serif on the top of each letter.
More recent rumors have hinted at the possibility of it being a performance-focused EV crossover. Kia is aiming for a 310-mile (500-kilometer range) and 800-volt battery system that could charge from 20 percent to 80 percent in 20 minutes at a 350 kW DC fast charger.
The so-called 'Plan S' will put a big emphasis on electric vehicles.
Kia has been killing it lately, especially in the US. The brand recently launched a number of great vehicles like the Telluride crossover, the K5 sedan, the Seltos, the restyled Sorento, and many more. But that impressive product onslaught is only part one of what Kia's global CEO, Ho Sung Song, calls "Plan S."
Kia will officially roll out Plan S (the "S" meaning "Shift") early next year. According to a report from Automotive News, Song wants the brand to be "more dynamic, stylish, and inventive," with a stronger emphasis on electric vehicles. Kia promises a lineup of at least 11 EVs by the year 2025, backed in part by a massive $25 billion investment.
"We have to prepare ourselves with advanced countermeasures for all these," Song said in an interview. "We will try to set up our new customer target together with our brand relaunch."
Kia's upcoming EVs will ride on a new moderately priced Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), shared with Hyundai. With the affordable underpinnings underneath, the brand expects its EVs to generate at least 20 percent of worldwide sales by 2025, and even more by 2029.
Part of that brand relaunch also includes a new logo, which the company first previewed on the electric Imagine concept car in 2019. The brand officially confirmed the arrival of the new logo back in February as patent filings leaked, and now says that the new look will make its debut on a production vehicle next year.
The new Kia logo takes the traditional wordmark and gives it a stark, italicized treatment – giving it a more modern look. All three letters now connect to each other, and the new logo ditches the signature circular surround synonymous with the brand since the beginning. Expect the stylish new wordmark to show up as early as January of 2021.
Kia has been teasing a logo change for close to two years as the Imagine concept unveiled in March 2019 at the Geneva Motor Show was the first to carry the revised avatar. We’ll soon be seeing it on production cars considering the South Korean marque has unveiled today the restyled badge. Redesigned to resemble a handwritten signature, the logo was unveiled during a record-breaking fireworks show organized in the skies of Incheon, South Korea.
No fewer than 303 pyrodrones launched hundreds of fireworks in what the automaker refers to as a “synchronized artistic display, igniting and celebrating Kia’s new beginning.” The dazzling show allowed the company to set a new Guinness World Record for “Most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) launching fireworks simultaneously.”
Coinciding with the logo change is a new slogan to replace “The Power to surprise” that Kia has been using for a number of years. As previously reported after being discovered on the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) website, Kia will be switching to “Movement that inspires" going forward.
These changes are part of a greater “Plan S” long-term business strategy we’ll learn more of in a week from Friday. January 15 will be the day Kia is going to share details about changes to its product lineup, which will include five big reveals all planned to take place later in 2020. An all-new Sportage will debut in the coming months, along with the next-gen K7 / Cadenza reportedly changing its name to K8 to signal a higher positioning in the range.
In addition, a brand new electric crossover has already been confirmed to debut this year when we’re also expecting to see updates to existing models. In the long run, reports say a pickup truck could be in the works along with a larger SUV to slot above Telluride, but nothing is official at this point. Meanwhile, the already revealed next-gen Sedona is set to arrive for the 2022 model year in North America with the Carnival name used globally.
02-25-2005, 12:11 PM
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