The history of Hyundai Contrary to what many people think, Hyundai cars are not made in Japan. In reality, the Hyundai Motor Company is a South Korean-made car that is rapidly gaining popularity around the world in the automotive sector.
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Is the brand Japanese?
No. The automaker Hyundai is not a Japanese one. Instead, this is a South Korean company with its roots in Seoul. That was said by Chung Ju-Yung back in 1947. Hyundai was a building company at the time. As a result, Hyundai Motor Company is actually Korean as opposed to Japanese.
Hyundai Motor Company is a global automobile manufacturer today. The corporate headquarters are still located in Seoul, South Korea. The company is well-known in the US. Popular vehicles like the Santa Fe and Tucson are advertised as being especially suitable for American families.
Korean Automotive Industry
Frequently referred to as Hyundai Motors, the Hyundai Motor Company
In Ulsan, South Korea, Hyundai runs the largest integrated auto manufacturing facility in the world, with a 1.6 million-unit production capacity per year. Around 75,000 employees work for the company internationally. Hyundai sells cars through 5,000 dealerships and showrooms in 193 different countries.
Hyundai is returning to Japan with a new approach.
Hyundai Motor, the largest automaker in South Korea, declared this week that it would return to the Japanese market after an absence of more than 12 years.
When the carmaker sold roughly 15,000 gasoline passenger cars between 2001 and 2009 in the Japanese market, it struggled to make a significant effect.
Hyundai, like many other foreign manufacturers, struggled with Japan’s high retail expenses, which were partly countered by consumers’ “preferences” for local brands and which the company was unable to match with sales volume. Less than 5% of Japan’s total automobile sales are now imported. Because Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colonial power more than a century ago, relations between Japan and South Korea are still tense.
Hyundai has a whole fresh approach this time. It will only sell cars online, drastically cutting down on retail expenses compared to before. In a similar move to Tesla, it is relying on the expansion of e-commerce in Japan to increase its market share.
Additionally, it is anticipated that it will use public gatherings and locations, such malls, to conduct promotional activities and foster relationships with customers. Additionally, it is collaborating to sell its vehicles with the nearby Anyca car-sharing service.
Through its regional affiliate Hyundai Mobility Japan, the carmaker will now only concentrate on electric cars (EVs) in this market. Since the government has not yet offered major sales incentives to consumers, this market is now considered undersupplied in Japan. It is believed that the majority of the 8,610 EVs sold in Japan last year came from China and were Tesla models.
Hyundai is also constructing a number of service centers throughout Japan; the first of these is already taking shape in Yokohama. These will serve as a basis for doing maintenance and placing calls to customer support, as well as being accessible to consumers who want to test drive the vehicles.
In order to avoid making the same mistakes again, Hyundai Motor CEO Jaehoon Chang said, “We have prepared a lot. We should know the customers, we should know the market, and we should provide the right products using the right brand.” The company announced that it would use its Ioniq EV brand in Japan.
“We have seen enormous rise in EV demand in South Korea,” Chang continued, “and we anticipate the same thing to happen in Japan, only faster.” He said that a recent poll revealed that one in four Japanese automobile buyers was considering an EV and that charging infrastructure was fast growing.
With prices ranging from US$41,500 to US$67,330 for the Nexo fuel-cell EV and the battery-powered Ioniq 5 correspondingly, Hyundai said it planned to begin accepting orders in May. The company did not provide any sales estimates. They will mostly compete with Tesla models as well as Toyota’s bZ4X and Nissan’s Ariya.
Eastman
Even heavy subsiziding from ROK did not help and yes, Hyundai has permanently closed its doors in Japan. This is similar to what Saturn did before it or even Opel. And yes, there were heavy subsizided by GM. Hyundai had catastrophically low sales in Japan because their line-up was nothing exciting and not in pair with cars offered by other market players.
We are still in Japan in the year 2022, and the country’s attitude toward automobiles has remained mostly intact. The majority of sales are made by Japanese companies, followed by a small percentage of European and very few US brands on the market.
Japanese consumers have the option to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) like Tesla, Nissan, and other brands, but sales are relatively low and even Tesla—a successful brand in the USA—is a very uncommon sight on Japanese roads.
Let me be pessimistic: Hyundai sales will once again be extremely low, especially for EVs. Japan is not yet a market for EVs due to pricing, new infrastructure, and upkeep and maintenance costs, while petrol, diesel, or even hybrid cars are far better options and more cost-effective.
And let’s not forget another crucial point: Japanese nationalism and a certain level of “pride” prevent them from purchasing cars made in Korea, Russia, or even China. Many European automakers have been successfully selling Chinese-made models of Citroen, VW, and Volvo in the country for a number of years, but Japanese consumers are completely unaware of this.
Hyundai from South Korea returns to the Japanese auto industry with green vehicles.
Twelve years after quitting the market that was dominated by domestic automakers, Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea will reenter the Japanese passenger car market this year, banking on the demand for its environmentally friendly vehicles.
Orders for the IONIQ 5 electric car and the NEXO fuel cell car will be accepted by Hyundai Mobility Japan Co. starting in May, with deliveries starting in July.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 can be seen in a Tokyo photo shot on February 8, 2022. The day after it left the Japanese market in December 2009, Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea announced its return. (Kyodo) ========
Since ceasing operations in December 2009 due to weak sales, the plan, which was unveiled on Tuesday, is Hyundai’s first attempt to sell passenger cars in the third-largest vehicle market in the world. Buses have since been marketed in Japan by the South Korean automaker.
According to the Japanese subsidiary, the IONIQ 5 has a high-capacity battery and can go 618 kilometers on a single charge. The cost of the EVs will range from 4.79 million to 5.89 million yen ($41,500).
The 7.76 million yen ($76,000) hydrogen-powered NEXO can travel around 820 kilometers before needing to refuel.
The Hyundai Nexo can be seen in a Tokyo photo shot on February 8, 2022. The day after it left the Japanese market in December 2009, Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea announced its return. (Kyodo) ========
In 2001, Hyundai made a foray into the Japanese passenger car market, where at its height in 2004 it sold about 2,500 cars. Later, in 2008, the sales had decreased to just 500.
Shigeaki Kato, general director of Hyundai Mobility Japan, gave this justification for the decision: “The market for EVs and FCVs is (still) modest in Japan. We want to offer a larger choice of cars.”
The EVs and FCV will be sold online by Hyundai Mobility Japan, which rebranded from Hyundai Motor Japan. Their sales goals were kept a secret.
The cars will be accessible for subscription and car-sharing services by the end of this year.
The Japanese company added that this summer it will create a facility in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, where customers can test drive, receive advice on purchases, and have their vehicles serviced. Other significant areas of the nation will then see a nationwide roll-out in association with neighborhood repair businesses.
The number of new foreign-brand vehicles sold in Japan in 2021 increased by 1.4 percent to 259,752, largely passenger cars, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association.
The figures represented 9.3% of all new vehicle sales in the nation in 2021 (excluding minivans), taking the biggest share since comparable data started to be available in 1988.
Hyundai and Kia are made in Japan.
The South Korean multinational automaker Kia Corporation, often known as Kia (Korean: gia; Hanja: Qi Ya; RR: Gia; MR: Kia, IPA: [ki.a]; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is based in Seoul. With sales of more than 2.8 million vehicles in 2019, it surpassed its parent firm, Hyundai Motor Company, to become South Korea’s second-largest automaker. Hyundai has a 33.88% share in the Kia Corporation as of 2015[update], valued at just over US$6 billion, making it the minority owner of the company. The ownership stake Kia holds in more than twenty Hyundai companies, which is worth more than US$8.3 billion, ranges from 4.9% to 45.37%.
Hyundai’s acceptance in Japan
A road test of the Hyundai Ioniq 5, one of two electric vehicles the Korean manufacturer will introduce in Japan, was conducted by Weekly Playboy on March 28. The other is the Nexo, a crossover SUV fueled by hydrogen fuel cells that was first displayed on January 8, 2018, at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show.
Toshimi Takehana, a seasoned automotive journalist, noted that the company’s EV and FCEV sales will be performed completely online, with the company first under contract to deliver about 900 units to Anyca, a car sharing company. Therefore, at least a certain amount of sales is guaranteed.
Hyundai plans to construct a pop-up shop by May 28 in Tokyo’s hip Harajuku neighborhood, and by this summer, the business wants to establish a Hyundai Customer Experience Center in Yokohama.
Takehana offers the Ioniq 5 a positive review after driving a 4WD model, praising its quick acceleration and engine braking performance, which he calls “genuine one pedal driving.” He also praises it for having a powerful Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), which uses many data inputs from various cameras, radars, and other sensors to identify dangerous situations and alert drivers to them.
According to the story, the Kia EV6, which shares a platform with Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, was named European Car of the Year on February 28. This is the first time a Korean-made car has won such accolades.
The vehicle has a 72.6 kWh lithium ion battery, which gives it a 577 km cruising range on a full charge. Rear-wheel drive vehicles would be available for roughly 1 million yen cheaper, according to Takehana, who claimed that his test model would cost 5.89 million yen.
Takehana is confident that the Korean company will sell its cars in Japan this time around.
Nobody is going to buy a car with the uncertainty regarding maintenance and after-care, he claimed. “If they withdraw from the market because they don’t sell well here, as happened 12 years ago, they will entirely lose the market’s trust and never be able to return to the Japanese market.”
Only 15,095 Hyundai vehicles had been sold in Japan over the previous eight years, according to Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 17). Together with South Korea’s other marque Kia, the two producers sold 6.68 million cars globally, with less than 1% going to Japan.
What about South Korea’s imports of Japanese automobiles? According to Bunshun Online’s research from last October, sales of Japanese cars, whose numbers formerly also fell, seem to be on the mend. The Korea Import Automobile Association reported on October 7 that Honda sold more than 500 automobiles in August of last year and another 513 in September. 3,045 units were sold overall between January and September of 2021, an increase of 47.3% from the same time in 2020. Other Japanese automakers saw gains as well. Between January and September, Lexus sold a total of 7,472 vehicles, an increase of 29.9% over 2020. Toyota increased sales by 12.7% to 4,811 cars between January and September. Toyota maintained monthly sales of more than 400 units in 2021 and monthly sales of more than 600 vehicles from May to July.
The author of Bunshun observed that Japanese automobile owners in South Korea no longer fear having their car vandalized when parked in entertainment areas or being purposefully stopped from changing lanes by aggressive drivers.
The relationship between Japan and Korea may be improving, at least in terms of auto sales.