Hyundai Motor Company is a leading South Korean automobile manufacturing company. Hyundai ranks among the largest automakers in the world, when combined with the sales of its affiliate, the Kia Motors Corporation of Seoul . Hyundai manufactures passenger cars and sport utility vehicles , as well as buses and trucks . The company has headquarters in Seoul.
Chung Ju-Yung founded Hyundai Motor Company in 1967. The brand name Hyundai is based on a Korean word that means modern. Chung was the eldest son of a poor peasant family in what is now North Korea . He eventually became one of the leading businessmen in South Korea, with interests in automobile manufacturing, construction, engineering, and shipbuilding.
In 1998, Hyundai became the largest shareholder in Kia Motors Corporation, following Kia’s bankruptcy. The brand name Kia is based on characters in the Chinese and Korean languages that stand for to arise from Asia. Hyundai Motor Company and Kia are part of the parent company Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai Motor Group consists of more than two dozen other auto-related companies and affiliates.
Hyundai has several large manufacturing facilities in South Korea. Its main production facility in Ulsan contains its own port, where multiple ships can anchor at the same time. Hyundai also has automobile manufacturing facilities in Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, India, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. Kia has assembly and manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico, Slovakia, South Korea, and the United States.
