Hyundai
Hyundai was founded in 1946. The name Hyundai was selected because of the meaning of the word. It translates in English from Korean to mean “modern.” The logo for the company represents the company’s desire to expand and achieve customer satisfaction. The oval shape is representative of the global expansion while the “H” is essentially two people shaking hands symbolically.
The actual production of vehicles by the company Hyundai was not established until 1967. It was one of four companies selected by South Korea to be included in their plan to manufacture vehicles from South Korea worldwide. Hyundai continued to expand in many countries and finally began to sell vehicles in the United States in 1986 with the Excel. That year, the Excel was nominated as Best Product #10 by Fortune Magazine. The year 1988 brought the Sonata, a new midsize Hyundai car.
Eleven years later in 1999 Hyundai launched an aggressive marketing campaign and added a ten year, one hundred thousand mile warranty to all vehicles sold in the United States. In 2003, Hyundai’s safety ranking matched that of Honda. This was a tremendous feat for the world class manufacturer.
In the years following, Hyundai experienced a change in administration as the chairman was charged with embezzlement. The Vice chairman took charge and made a complete overhaul of the administration, replacing the top management with engineers. As a result of the dramatic improvements made, the general perception of the company improved ten-fold. |