Modern history

If you live in North America, you are probably very familiar with Hyundai’s car models. In 1986, the first Hyundai was introduced to the market-Excel-and the company lineup has changed dramatically since then. Hyundai produces more than just cars. In fact, by the end of the last century, Hyundai has become one of the largest companies in the world. Take a look at this South Korean-based multinational company and the company behind Hyundai Motor.

In 1946, just one year after the occupation of the Korean Peninsula by the Empire of Japan, a new company was established in what is now known as South Korea. Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. was founded by Chung Ju-yung, a child of a farmer in northern Korea, and in 1947 launched the second company, Hyundai Citizens Industry. Self-taught Juyeon transformed the entire Korean economy by tightly controlling modern companies.

The first Hyundai business was entrusted with the manufacture of automobiles, and the second Hyundai company devoted itself to construction. Indeed, much of modern South Korea’s infrastructure was built by Hyundai during the period from the end of the Korean War in 1953 to the 1970s. Dams, highways, shipyards and nuclear power plants were all built by the modern civil engineering industry, and Hyundai Motor produced cars mainly made of Japanese parts. Today’s influence extends far beyond the Korean Peninsula, and the company has won a contract to build a highway in Thailand and a major port in Saudi Arabia. Obviously, Hyundai dominated the Korean market and soon became a major player in the international scene.

By the 1970s, Hyundai began building ships as well as shipyards, and by 1986, Hyundai had manufactured the first vehicle entirely made of Korean parts. Since the 1980s, Hyundai has added specialties such as the construction of semiconductors and maglev trains.

But not everything is shiny for the company. Decades of labor problems, which have culminated in new employee safety standards since the 1990s, have eased the mysteries of our time. In fact, until then, the company was said to have the worst safety standards of any company in the developed world.

Cars became known as the Hyundai Group but were the cause of another problem. Currently manufacturing private cars, the quality of Hyundai Motors for the first decade was considered substandard by car experts. Today, Hyundai vehicles and Hyundai parts are almost always slightly above average in quality compared to the industry as a whole.

With the death of Chung Ju-yung in 2001, Hyundai was split into three companies: Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Motor Group, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction. Today, all three modern companies continue to be successful in the global market, thanks to the farmers’ vision.