New Hyundai CEO takes seat with ambitious sales targets

The new Hyundai President and CEO, Ickkyun Oh, who took his seat in Turkey on August 1, has announced ambitious plans for his company in an interview with DUNYA. Speaking at the launch of the the new 1.6-liter, diesel-powered Tucson in Antalya, Oh made important statements on the new targets of the brand, emphasizing that he is quite ambitious especially in sales and marketing.

“As a brand with factories in Turkey, our market share is very low,” he said. “My dream is to increase sales by 10 times and reach second place in the market. Despite the economic crisis and contraction in the sector in the country, we will continue to our pace of investment. I believe that more research and investment is needed at such times. I will both focus on production and sales.”

Although this may seem a rather ambitious target, Oh carried the brand to the top ranks in a very short time in Russia, where he was posted and served for nearly three years before being transferred to Turkey. He said that there was also a crisis in Russia when he first started there. “The exchange rate has risen, the market of three million units has diminished,” he said. “But we have continued to work on three shifts although the numbers have fallen in the automotive sector. We have not cut our speed on investment. Hyundai began to gain acclaim in Russia.”

For the first time, Hyundai reached a market share of 10 percent. Then they were able to increase their market share to 20 percent when the market conditions got back to normal. “Now the production capacity is not enough. The Creta model in the B SUV segment has the biggest share in our success in Russia,” he said.

Will export to Africa and Central Asia

Oh said that the company will open to new markets in exports while focusing on increasing sales in the local market, stressing they will continue investments in Turkey. The brand, which mainly exports to Europe, will open to new markets such as Africa and Central Asia, Oh added.

Hyundai Assan General Manager, Onder Goker, underlined that they will not give up with their new model for investments despite the contraction in the automobile sector in Turkey. “The production of Ion will start in 2019, a completely new version of the i20 in 2020, a new SUV and a sedan in 2021,” he said.

A big decline is expected

The total market for cars and light commercial vehicles contracted by 21 percent to 440,428 units sold in the first 8 months of 2018 compared to the same period last year. The automobile market shrank by 51 percent and light commercial vehicle market by 58 percent in August. Goker, who assessed the market contraction and year-end sales expectations, said: “There has been a huge contraction in the market due to the increase in the exchange rate. Scrap incentive did not work as expected. The bases need to be rearranged in order for the scrapping incentive to work. A number of incentives should be given to the sector. OSD, ODD and OYDER, the leading non-governmental organizations in the automotive industry, have done the necessary work but they cannot make an appointment because the government is very busy.” At the end of the year, the total market is estimated to be 600,000-650,000 representing a 35 percent loss.