Kia boss resigns
The Koreans have a sense of honor, particularly advanced. The boss of Kia Motors, Chung Sung-eun, has resigned after the manufacturer, the country's second largest behind Hyundai's ally, was forced to announce, between Monday and Tuesday the recall of more than 100,000 models worldwide for problems electrical circuit. The four models are concerned the Soul, the Sorento, the Borrego and Cadenza.
In reality, this reminder, in addition to that, in June, to 56,000 vehicles (produced in Slovakia) for a potential defect in the braking system, seems to have been one too many for the group chairman, Chung Mong-koo, the son of the founder of Hyundai. It was he who had fired Chung Sung-eun, also vice-chairman of Hyundai-Kia, according to the Korean press.
The quality, workhorse of the group
This reaction may seem excessive.Reminders of this magnitude are indeed common in the automotive industry. Generally, they do not impose sanctions on the head of companies. The most striking example is the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has not changed leadership after recalling more than 10 million cars since last fall to technical faults, which has plunged into the worst crisis serious in its history. The world, however, completely revised its processes for quality control.
The intransigence of Hyundai-Kia is explained by the fact that the fifth largest world has made improving the quality of its flagship since the early 2000s. Thanks to the huge sums invested, it now ranks among the best in this field.In recent years, the group, who dreams of becoming world number three in 2012, before passing the result Toyota has further intensified its efforts to provide a high quality image.
Since its quality problems have knocked off its pedestal Toyota – long the standard in the field – Hyundai and Kia are looking to snatch back market share from their rival Nippon highlighting the reliability of their models. In the second quarter of this year, Kia has posted a net profit up 61% YoY thanks to good sales and the success of its new models. This explains the desire of Hyundai-Kia to hit hard after the latest recall, although their scope is limited, probably to make it a symbol of his attention to quality.