Hyundai Motor is preparing to relaunch its brand as “modern premium” in line with the South Korean carmaker’s growing confidence and global sales.
Hyundai and its sister brand Kia will this year produce more than 6m vehicles, up about 20 per cent on 2009, and will be the industry’s fifth-largest carmaking group by production, according to forecasts by consultancies JD Power and IHS Global Insight.
Hyundai and Kia have grown faster than the overall car market during the credit crunch by building cars perceived as offering value for money. This year, they replaced Toyota as Europe’s top-selling Asian carmaker, and last week Hyundai passed the 500,000 sales mark in the US for the first time.