Hyundai accelerates in its move to quality

Financial Times
May 18, 2011

Hyundai’s cars were never traditionally bywords for quality. When he travelled South Korea in the 1970s, Hyundai’s founder, Chung Ju-young, used to count the clapped-out cars left deserted by the highways. He knew he had market share of 60 per cent, so if only 50 per cent of the abandoned cars were Hyundais, he was reassured he was doing well.

Hyundai’s status is very different in 2011. At an exclusive launch in a Seoul art gallery this week, Hyundai joined Italian fashion house Prada in launching a Genesis family sedan decked out with palladium, chrome and luxury leather, destined for rich motorists in the Gulf and China.

Hyundai’s 1,200 Prada Genesis cars will be of negligible commercial value but the partnership illustrates how the once-derided South Korean carmaker is shifting its strategic focus from volume to building a classier brand, gaining ground on Toyota, which faced the recall of millions of vehicles last year and a huge earthquake this year.
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