Hyundai-Kia named Automotive Manufacturer of the Year by Autocar
Citing the Korean giant’s “mind-blowing” ambition, editor Chas Hallet presented the title to Mr. Nam-Yong Kim, President of Hyundai-Kia’s European Research and Development Centre in Germany.
Hallett commented, “When the irrepressible Hyundai-Kia group started talking, just a few years ago, about wanting to become the world’s fifth largest car company behind Toyota, GM, Ford and Audi-VW, many of us were sceptical.
“Then the Korean group got serious. They hatched a plan to assemble a European design and engineering team to conceive a range of models for Europe. Boldly, they challenged the VW Golf and Ford Focus head on, building cars that looked as good and worked as well – and offering them with a far longer warranty, just for good measure.
“They began to acquire a reputation as the Eastern marques that would bring forth bold design concepts, much as Citroën has been doing in Europe, and they built separate factories for Hyundai and Kia in lower-cost Eastern Europe, servicing both operations from handily placed engine and gearbox plants,” he added.
The product of a merger in 1998, Hyundai-Kia currently dominate the Korean domestic car market with an 80 per cent share and this year became the world’s fifth largest car-maker, according to Automotive News in the US.
With plants in North America, China, Europe and other locations including Russia, the Middle East and South East Asia, Hyundai-Kia have climbed into the top ranks of the world’s biggest car companies in less than 50 years. Both companies began making automobiles in the 1960s and didn’t start exporting their products until the 1980s.
Kia currently builds its cee’d family and Sportage SUV models at its state-of-the-art factory in Zilina in the Slovak Republic and construction of a plant in Georgia, US is nearing completion.
President Nam-Yong Kim commented, “This recognition of the efforts of everyone within Hyundai and Kia is a great honour, coming from such a renowned publication as Autocar. This is a significant recognition of the determination of our Chairman, Mr. Mong-Koo Chung and all of our people to firmly put the Korean automotive industry on the global map.”
###
Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) -- a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart -- was founded in 1944 and is Korea's oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world's premier automotive brands. More than 1.4 million vehicles a year are produced in 14 manufacturing and assembly operations in eight countries which are then sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 165 countries. Kia today has over 40,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of almost US$17 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of the Davis Cup. Kia is an official automotive partner of FIFA -- the governing body of the FIFA World Cup -- as well as a EUROTOP partner of UEFA. Kia Motors Corporation's brand slogan -- "The Power to Surprise" -- represents the company's global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation.
웹사이트: http://www.hyundai-motor.com
연락처
Oles Gadacz 82-2-3464-2154
이 보도자료는 Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group가(이) 작성해 뉴스와이어 서비스를 통해 배포한 뉴스입니다.
-
2007년 9월 5일 17:57
-
2006년 6월 7일 11:32