Releases

SÃO PAULO, Jan. 5, 2021 — Hyundai Motor Company has named Ken Ramirez the new president and CEO of both Hyundai Motor Brazil and Hyundai Motor Central and South America as the company continues to strengthen its regional leadership team.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 10, 2020 – Three leaders from Hyundai’s U.S. and Mexico operations have been recognized by Automotive News as among the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto industry. Olabisi Boyle, the vice president, Product Planning and Mobility Strategy of Hyundai Motor North America, Claudia Marquez, the CEO of...

SEOUL, November 2, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced it has appointed Luc Donckerwolke to new company position, Chief Creative Officer (CCO). He resumes his career as Executive Vice President and his office will be located at the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center.

SEOUL, October 14, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) announced today that Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman, was inaugurated to the position of Chairman of the Group. Chairman Mong-Koo Chung was inaugurated to the position of Honorary Chairman.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 30, 2020 – Hyundai Motor America has appointed Kate Fabian as the director of Marketing Communications. In this position, Fabian is responsible for brand and multicultural marketing, media strategy, national and regional dealer advertising, and experiential marketing. Fabian starts in her new role on Oct. 5 and...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 8, 2020 – Dana W. White, Chief Communications Officer, Hyundai Motor North America, has been named to the Women in Automotive board.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 17, 2020 – Hyundai Motor America has appointed Fred DePerez as the new vice president of Product Line Management and Sales Planning. This newly created division will allow Hyundai to react more rapidly to market conditions and improve decision making across the enterprise.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 6, 2020 – Hyundai Motor America is strengthening its leadership team with the addition of Olabisi Boyle as the vice president of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy. Boyle will be responsible for guiding the strategic direction of Hyundai’s U.S. vehicle lineup, leading long- and short-range planning, and...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 27, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Company today announced Robert Hood has joined the Washington, D.C. office as Vice President of Government Affairs. In this role, Hood will be responsible for leading Hyundai’s U.S. government affairs strategy and operations at the federal and state levels. 

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., July 2, 2020 – Brian Smith, the chief operating officer at Hyundai Motor America, will leave the company effective July 6. Smith joined Hyundai in October 2017 and led the company’s introduction of segment-defining vehicles like the all-new Palisade SUV and Sonata sedan.

SEOUL, June 30, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Group has appointed Martin Zeilinger as Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial Vehicle (CV) Development Tech Unit. One of key talents in the field, Zeilinger brings with him 30 years of experience on commercial vehicle development.

SEOUL, April 3, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) announced today it has appointed J. Scott Drennan as Vice President of its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Division. Drennan will report to Jaiwon Shin, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of UAM Division. In this role, Drennan will lead UAM research and development.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., March 27, 2020 – Hyundai Motor North America has selected Genesis and Hyundai veteran Erwin Raphael to lead a new cross-affiliate group as the Chief Cost Optimization Officer for Hyundai Motor North America. The new group, the North American Cost Optimization Committee, was created as a part of Hyundai’s efforts to...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., March 24, 2020 – Hyundai Motor North America has named Steve Gehring as its new executive director of North American Safety Regulations and Policy. Steve will be based at Hyundai’s Washington, D.C. office and will be responsible for executing Hyundai’s vehicle safety strategy in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In...

SEOUL, February 6, 2020 – Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Mong-Koo Chung will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, the industry’s top honor, in the class of 2020.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 24, 2020 – Following two successful stints at Hyundai Motor America, Michael O’Brien, the vice president of product, corporate and digital planning, has elected to depart the company to pursue other interests. O’Brien’s distinguished Hyundai career spanned nearly two decades, where he helped lead...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 25, 2019 – Hyundai Motor North America has named Brian K. Latouf as its new chief safety officer. In this position, he will be responsible for all safety regulation matters, strategic legal direction and oversight of all safety and emission investigations and recalls in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He officially...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 25, 2019 – Michael O’Brien, the vice president of Product, Corporate and Digital planning for Hyundai Motor America, was named a 2019 Automotive News All-Star in the product development category. This esteemed award is an annual selection of outstanding individuals who are leaders in the highly competitive...

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 30, 2019 – Hyundai Motor Mexico (HMM) has appointed Claudia Marquez as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective November 1st. Marquez will be responsible for managing all aspects of Hyundai’s business in Mexico, including its product strategy, sales, marketing, customer relations and dealer development, among other...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 21, 2019 – Hyundai Motor America has named Angela Zepeda, the senior vice president and managing director at its agency of record INNOCEAN USA, as its new chief marketing officer. Angela will be responsible for all of Hyundai’s marketing and advertising activities in the U.S., including the strategic direction,...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 1, 2019 – Hyundai Motor America has appointed automotive industry veteran Robert Grafton as executive director of Dealer Development. Mr. Grafton will be responsible for managing and implementing the Hyundai dealer network strategy by optimizing retail representation and improving dealer relations. He started on...

SEOUL, September 29, 2019 — Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) has appointed Dr. Jaiwon Shin as Executive Vice President and Head of its newly established Urban Air Mobility Division. An internationally renowned aeronautics engineer, Dr. Shin will lead the company into a new era of developing smart mobility products within the aviation industry.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., May 28, 2019 – Hyundai Motor America has named automotive industry veteran Randy Parker vice president of National Sales. Mr. Parker will be responsible for all aspects of sales and distribution of Hyundai vehicles in the U.S., including sales strategies, fleet and certified pre-owned operations, dealer relations,...

SEOUL, April 18, 2019 – Hyundai Motor Company has appointed José Muñoz as global Chief Operating Officer. In this capacity, Mr. Muñoz will oversee global operations strategies and their implementation. His focus will be to deliver profitable growth and to improve overall performance of Hyundai Motor based on his decades of automotive and...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 26, 2018 – Dean Evans, chief marketing officer of Hyundai Motor America, was named an Automotive News All-Star for 2018 in the marketing category. This prestigious award is an annual selection of outstanding individuals who have made a difference in the highly competitive automotive industry. Evans also recently...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 30, 2018 – As part of a series of Hyundai Motor Company personnel appointments designed to make the company more globalized and customer-oriented, Yong-woo (William) Lee, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America will also assume the role of president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America on an interim basis....

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., June 26, 2018 – Dean Evans, chief marketing officer (CMO) of Hyundai Motor America, was again selected as one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs by Forbes.

SEOUL, March 1, 2018 – Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea’s largest carmaker, today announced that it has established a new division to enhance its high performance vehicle and motorsport businesses and has appointed a renowned industry expert Thomas Schemera to lead the new division.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 5, 2018 – Hyundai believes in providing its vehicle owners with an excellent product experience and to further that initiative is bringing back Omar Rivera to be the director of Quality and Service Engineering.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 23 2017 – To further strengthen its executive leadership team, Hyundai Motor America named Brian Smith its Chief Operating Officer (COO). Effective October 25, Smith, 58, reports to Hyundai Motor America president and CEO, Kenny Lee, and will be responsible for of all aspects of Hyundai’s U.S. operations,...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., July 27, 2017 – Hyundai believes that its customers deserve peace of mind when their vehicles are serviced at Hyundai dealers. To continue making the customer experience better, Hyundai Motor America has brought on industry veteran David VandeLinde to be the new director of Dealer Service and Parts Process. In this...

In the winter of 2016, Manish Mehrotra was named director of digital business planning and connected operations. Mehrotra’s organization is charged with leading collaboration across Hyundai Motor America divisions to identify, implement and operate technologies. These technologies, including the well-acclaimed Hyundai Blue Link® connected...

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 22, 2017 - Hyundai Motor Company today announced that David S. Kim will join the Washington, D.C. office as Vice President of Government Affairs. In this role, Kim will lead Hyundai’s U.S. government affairs program at the federal and state levels.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Dec. 21, 2016 – Hyundai Motor America today announced a continuation of a reorganization that began late this year by appointing W. Gerald (Jerry) Flannery as interim president and CEO, effective immediately. He succeeds Dave Zuchowski who will be leaving the company.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., November 17, 2016 – Hyundai Motor America today announced succession plans for three members of its executive team who will be retiring at the end of this year. The transitions involve:

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP, MICH., April 21st, 2016 – Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI) has named Dr. Minsup Lee to the newly created position of vice president. In this role, Dr. Lee will assist HATCI President William Freels in leading Hyundai’s design, technology and engineering activities for the North American market. Additionally,...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 15, 2016 – Hyundai Motor America named Kimberly Walker General Manager of the Western Region, effective March 1, 2016. In her new role, Walker will lead the day-to-day operations of more than 165 Hyundai dealerships across the 12 Western-most states in the United States. She will report to Hyundai’s Vice...

Erwin Raphaeltitle General Manager, Genesis Brand Erwin Raphael, a 25-year veteran of the automotive industry, is the General Manager for the Genesis brand in the U.S. market. He is responsible for the strategic direction and management of all Genesis operations in the United States.Prior to his current appointment, Raphael was the Western...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., February 15, 2016 – Erwin Raphael has been named the new General Manager for the Genesis brand in the United States. He is responsible for the strategic direction and management of Genesis operations in the United States, including sales and marketing. He reports to Dave Zuchowski, President and Chief Executive...