Vice chairman Chung on mission to transform Hyundai into mobility company

This is the second of the two-part stories on what drove Hyundai Motor Group toward its 100-million-unit milestone in cumulative car sales. -- Ed.

Hyundai Motor vice chairman Chung Eui-sun, who leads projects for future growth of the carmaker, has the busiest year ever as the automotive industry faces a sea change with digital disruption.

A recent report by McKinsey & Company forecast technological advances in areas such as electrification, vehicle connectivity and self-driving cars will change the landscape of the mechanical-centered automobile industry at a fast pace, bringing new competitors from outside the industry and creating new customer demands. 

Facing the new industrial revolution, leaders of global automakers have put their priority on not only sales growth this year but also development of a roadmap for future growth.

The 45-year-old heir apparent of the Korean automotive group, which has two auto arms Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, is no exception. He has shouldered the burden of going extra miles for future growth of the group, following in his charismatic father’s footsteps.

Affected by the prolonged global economic downturn, Hyundai faced headwinds last year after achieving a record-breaking sales growth over the past decade. To cope with the challenges, the only son of group chairman Chung Mong-koo has pushed for a project to upscale the Hyundai brand with the launch of the firm’s first luxury brand Genesis.

In addition to the task, Chung is currently given a new mission to transform the world’s fifth largest automaker into a “mobility’’ company.

Mobility is a buzzword in the automobile industry. It means a wide range of tech-driven innovations to make people and goods move around more freely. The new concept is a threat to traditional automakers by attracting new entrants but also offers them an opportunity to broaden their business domain beyond producing cars.

Chung proactively adopted the transformational change, declaring Hyundai’s transition to a mobility company at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show in March.

During the motor show, Chung introduced the “Project Ioniq,’’ a long-term research and development project that will redefine future mobility, via an auto-visual clip, while unveiling the Ioniq green-car lineup as part of the project.

“The future of driving that Hyundai envisages is about staying connected to our daily lives all the time without being bound by the limitations of time and space,” said Chung.

This month, he also made a stride in developing a connected car, a new type of future mobility, by teaming up with Cisco Systems, a U.S. networking giant.

Industry watchers said the tie-up with the U.S. tech giant will boost Hyundai’s investments in future technologies such as in-vehicle networks, big data analytics and connected car security technologies.

“Hyundai is somewhat late in competition for future driving, but Chung, who learned the ‘can-do-spirit’ from his entrepreneurial predecessors, is expected to catch up in the global race and present a ‘wow’ product or service for future mobility as he promised,” said Kim Phil-soo, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University College.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)