Hyundai Chairman is First Korean Inducted into Automotive Hall of Fame

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Mong-Koo Chung will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, the industry’s highest honor.

The official ceremony which will be held on July 23 sees Chung as the first Korean inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame which was established in 1939, and has honored nearly 800 business leaders from around the world.

The Hall of Fame Induction is recognized as the most prestigious and honorable award in the industry. Past inductees have included: Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, American inventor Thomas Edison, founder of Mercedes-Benz Karl Benz, founder of Honda Motor Company Soichiro Honda, and Toyota Motor Corporation founder Kiichiro Toyoda.

Previously, the Automotive Hall of Fame honored Chung with its Distinguished Service Citation Award in 2001.

According to the Automotive Hall of Fame, Chairman Chung has been credited with the success of Hyundai Motor Group. Chung’s legacy is on par with other legends of the industry who have launched and guided automotive firms to global growth and renown. Through Chung’s leadership, Hyundai Motor became Korea's largest automaker and Hyundai Motor Group became the world’s fifth-largest automotive group. Chung is noted for many remarkable accomplishments, including:

• Acquiring Kia Motors Corporation for Hyundai Motor Group
• Spearheading the group’s growth with new plants in key regions, including United States, Europe, China, India, Brazil and Russia
• Creating a highly efficient vertically integrated business structure that produces everything from steel to vehicles.

As one of the top business leaders in Korea, Chung has been a steadfast champion for development of the nation’s automobile industry and economy. Amid collapse of Korean automotive industry during the 1990s Asian financial crisis, Chung successfully revived Kia Motors and fostered it as a global automotive brand.

Under Chung’s leadership, Hyundai Motor Group rapidly expanded to compete head-to-head with the world’s leading automakers. As a result, Chung’s efforts affected lasting change in the global automotive landscape and the Korean economy.

In pursuit of global competitiveness, Chung placed great emphasis on quality management. He established a standard plant construction system that can be rapidly implemented anywhere to help assure consistent high-quality production evident in the many quality awards earned by Hyundai and Kia vehicles around the world. Chung has also established one of the world’s largest research and development centers to advance the company’s competitiveness.

Chung also helped grow the material industry by constructing integrated steel mill operations, creating highly efficient vertically integrated business structure which produces everything from steel to vehicles. The integrated steel mill allowed for synergy maximization within the group and environmentally sustainable manufacturing by establishing the world’s first resource-circulation business structure.