Hyundai Motor is preparing for a bigger leap as it marks 40 years since entering the United States next year. Because the U.S. is Hyundai Motor's largest export market and a key region that leads trends in the global auto industry, the company plans to respond aggressively to various crises, including tariffs and the end of electric vehicle subsidies, through large-scale investment.
Hyundai Motor entered the U.S. market, the home of automobiles, starting with exports of Excel, the country's first front-wheel-drive passenger car produced at the Ulsan plant in 1986. By touting reasonable prices, it drew attention from U.S. consumers by selling 160,000 units in the first year of entry and more than 260,000 units the following year. However, due to issues such as insufficient quality control and a lack of service networks, the brand image faced a crisis in the early days of its U.S. entry.
In response, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo focused on "quality management," pushing for improvements in quality, safety, and performance to satisfy customers around the world, including in the U.S. In particular, in 1999, the company directly confronted quality issues with an after-sales (AS) strategy called the "10-year/100,000-mile warranty."
As a result, Hyundai Motor has improved both quality and sales, winning top honors one after another in the U.S. Hyundai Motor Group achieved a record for the most selections as the "safest cars" for the second consecutive year in crash safety evaluations released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) this year. It also posted the best overall score among 17 global auto groups in the 2025 Initial Quality Study by U.S. data analytics firm J.D. Power.
Marking the 100th anniversary of its founding this year, the influential U.S. auto outlet Automotive News selected founding Chairman Chung Ju-yung, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo, and Chairman Chung Eui-sun—three generations of leadership—as figures who had a profound impact on the development of the global auto industry. Chairman Chung Eui-sun said, "The customer-centric management philosophy of my grandfather, founding Chairman Chung Ju-yung, has become the foundation of today's core values at Hyundai Motor Group, and my father, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo's conviction about quality, safety, and R&D is deeply engraved in Hyundai Motor Group's management philosophy."
In the U.S., Hyundai Motor sold about 896,000 units from January to November this year, putting it on the verge of achieving the highest annual sales for the third consecutive year. Despite auto tariffs by the Trump administration in the United States, the company minimized vehicle price increases and responded flexibly to market conditions by increasing local production and adjusting the sales mix. In March, it also completed Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia and began building a system to produce 1.2 million units annually.
In addition, the company plans to invest $21 billion in the United States by 2028 in key sectors including automobiles, parts and logistics, steel, and future industries.
In October, Hyundai Motor also responded to the headwinds from the end of U.S. electric vehicle subsidies by "strengthening its hybrid lineup," giving consumers more choices.
However, even after a deal was reached in negotiations between Korea and the United States, Hyundai Motor still faces a 15% tariff, intensifying offensives from global electric vehicle companies such as Tesla and Chinese makers and the end of subsidies, and competition in software-defined vehicles (SDV) such as Autonomous Driving.
An industry official said, "Because the United States is the largest export market and a key beachhead that leads trends in the global auto industry, attention is on whether Hyundai Motor, under Chairman Chung Eui-sun's leadership, will overcome the challenges it faces and achieve a bigger leap."