By Park Jin-hai
Competition between Hyosung Group and Kolon Group is heating up as the two aggressively expand their dealerships to meet the needs of the lucrative luxury imported car market.
In March, Hyosung ― the official dealer of Mercedes, Toyota and Lexus cars ― acquired FMK, which imports and sells Ferraris and Maseratis. It recently appointed Hyosung Vice President Cho Hyun-sang as FMK’s standing director along with two others last month.
Cho, the third son of Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Suk-rae, was behind the conglomerate’s acquisition of FMK.
Although Hyosung’s three sons shared stakes in The Class Hyosung (Mercedes dealer), Hyosung Toyota (Toyota dealer) and The Premium Hyosung (Lexus dealer), none of them had previously participated in the imported car business as a standing director.
Industry insiders say that putting Cho in charge means that the company’s imported car business will further expand its territory here, clashing with Kolon Group, which has been holding the No.1 position for sales at an imported car dealership.
“Cho was the owner-family member who engaged most vigorously in outside activities. The company has been investing heavily in the automotive industry as a growth engine that can create synergy with its core textile business,” said an industry watcher.
Hyosung’s three dealerships accrued 600 billion won in sales last year. Adding the annual sales of FMK’s 110 billion won, the company’s sales can reach 710 billion won, close behind Kolon’s 865.7 billion won.
Kolon Group, which has been BMW’s official dealer Kolon Motors for the past 30 years, has also been busy expanding its dealerships. By recently bagging an additional dealership for Audi cars, its position in imported car market has been enhanced further.
The company is taking steps to establish a separate affiliate to deal with Audi car sales. Starting with a temporary show room for Audi cars late this year, the company plans to open a showroom that can display a maximum 15 vehicles and an after-sales service facility in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul.
Currently, Kolon Motors supplies 30 percent of BMW and MINI brands along with Rolls-Royce luxury cars as the largest BMW dealer in the domestic market.
Hyosung acquired FMK for 20 billion won from DongA One in March. However, its CEO Lee Gun-hun, the only-son of the DongA One chairman, remained with the company as co-CEO with Kim Gwang-cheol.