Chungcheongnam-do

Recently, Hyundai marked first place among non-luxury brands in the U.S. IQS (Initial Quality Study) leaving behind well-known brands such as Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
This is the first time Hyundai has placed no.1 in the world. It is truly a milestone in the Korean automotive history to take first place on the JD Power IQS. Now, Hyundai has put forth its first steps toward becoming a ‘premium car’ brand from a ‘value car’ brand.
Taking first place in IQS can be interpreted as being the result of Hyundai’s quality-first policy.

Quality Improvement makes Hyundai a Global Manufacturer
In 1983, Hyundai Motors was able to enact its independent engine-manufacturing technology just five years, six months after the inauguration of its engine development department. And, in 2002, they unveiled one of the world’s best engines, the Theta engine, which is powerful, efficient, light, and functional at the same time. Hyundai succeeded in delivering core engine-manufacturing technology to the United States and Japan, and Korea became an engine-exporting country.
In 1986, when Hyundai’s Excel was shown for the first time in the United States, the battlefield for automobile makers from all around the world, Fortune magazine selected Excel as one of the 10 best products. However, quality-related problems occurred on the exported cars and Hyundai confronted a crisis with a reputation of producing ‘cheap and unreliable cars.’
Hyundai got help from JD Power in order to figure out where U.S. customers’ dissatisfaction came from. The reform lead to quality improvement added to a 10 year-100,000 mile warranty, and resulted in Hyundai’s confidence in quality. Hyundai also built its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz and Honda settled down for 10 years, competing straight up with them.
Hyundai Motors marks itself as a global automotive manufacturer by becoming the official partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. Hyundai is not only the exclusive automobile supplier but also the sole Korean sponsor. As well, renowned star players such as Park Ji-Sung, Thierry Henry and David Beckham used a Hyundai. The 32 national teams as well as VIPs used seven different passenger vehicles including the Equus, Grandeur, Sonata, Santa Fe and Trajet, and a bus from Hyundai. Being the official automobile supplier, Hyundai was able to show the whole world the high performance and quality of their vehicles, and took advantage of the indirect advertising benefits from brand exposure by putting oversized stickers on the vehicles using the World Cup emblem combined with Hyundai Motors’logo. Hyundai delivered a total of 1,250 vehicles for the 2006 World Cup Germany. It had already started with the 2002 World Cup Korea-Japan, and took one step closer to the world’s top-5 automo-bile manufacturers.

Asan Manufacturing Facility Making Korean Automotive Success, the New EF Sonata and the New Grandeur XG
Hyundai, making its entry into world’s top-5 automotive companies, will establish a 5 million vehicles-per-year worldwide production system by the year 2010. The state-of-the-art Asan plant located in Asan, Chungnam will play a critical role in realizing this blueprint.
The Asan manufacturing facility is fully independent, equipped with a 300,000-per-year mid and full-size passenger car production plant along with an engine and parts plant. Hyundai is currently manufacturing Korea’s best-selling new EF Sonata, the brand new European-style 5th generation Sonata and the luxurious Grandeur XG.
Creating 27,000 new jobs to include 10,000 partner-company employees and 12,000 indirect employments, Asan plant’s contribution to the local economy is worth $200 million in national and local taxes. Also, a radical and heavy investment in its environment management facility resulted in Hyundai being an example of an environmentally-friendly company.