Hyundai is the most profitable of the world’s top six automakers, with a combined operating margin of 9.21 percent. Increased quality and a strong wave of customers have kept factories that make Hyundais humming at 104 percent of planned capacity last year.
Once known as the builder of utilitarian cars like the Excel compact car, Hyundai has emerged as an industry contender. Its 2012 lineup includes the multi award winning MD Elantra and the Lexus chasing Equus luxury sedan. The MD Elantra sedan was named North American Car of the Year in January 2012 and since then more and more International awards have been given.
At the Namyang research center 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Seoul, Hyundai is looking toward luxury models and green technologies. Some 250 engineers dedicated to fuel cells hold hundreds of patents on the battery-like devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity and leave behind only heat and water. As Hyundai’s momentum grows, it’s challenging conventional wisdom about management, governance and investor relations and evolving a model of capitalism that shows how a combination of East and West makes for great business sense.
