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| Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun |
Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors said Friday they will seek to improve their profitability in the United States and China in 2019, despite the pessimistic outlook for the global car market.
During a meeting convened by Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun at the group headquarters in Seoul, heads of the two companies' foreign branches promised to do their utmost to achieve a "V-Shaped Recovery" next year.
The 50 participants also agreed to adopt a more efficient organizational structure and to reform decision making systems in order to come up with better countermeasures against unexpected changes in market conditions.
In addition, they will improve capabilities for their future businesses, according to HMG.
To achieve these goals, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will finish establishing regional headquarters worldwide in the first half of 2019.
HMG said the regional headquarters will help the automakers promptly meet customer demand, through autonomous decision making and organic cooperation among production, sales and marketing.
"Based on the regional headquarters-centered sectoral cooperation, we can be an enterprise that offers new experiences and the highest value to our customers," Chung said. "Leaders of each regional headquarters should be accelerators who support employees seeking for challenging tasks."
The controlling group has set the goal amid deteriorating demand in the global car market.
According to its in-house research institute, global demand in 2019 is expected to be 92.49 million vehicles, a mere 0.1 percent annual growth rate, due to declining demand in the U.S. market and stagnation in Europe and China. The growth rate is the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis.
However, the automakers said they will try their best to win hearts of U.S. customers in the forthcoming year with large SUVs, such as the Hyundai Palisade and the Kia Telluride.
In addition, they are seeking to boost sales and increase their share in the U.S. market with the Hyundai Sonata sedan and the Kia Soul compact crossover.
Given that the Genesis G70 has received favorable reviews from influential news outlets there, Hyundai Motor also plans to release the Genesis G90 flagship premium sedan in the world's largest car market next year.
As for the Chinese market, Hyundai and Kia are seeking to improve their performance with new cars equipped with cutting-edge technology. The two firms said they have collaborated with Chinese tech firm Baidu to offer vehicles optimized for Chinese customers.
Hyundai Motor is currently set to release the ix25, Santa Fe and Sonata in China in 2019, while Kia Motors is considering launching the K3 and KX3.
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