Hyundai goal: sell 200,000 in 2000

A year ago, no one would have predicted the year that Hyundai had in 1999. A year ago, the goal of the then-troubled Korean auto-maker was to change its image and hope that the cars sold.

Sell they did.

"We are very excited by this year. Hyundai had the greatest sales increase of any other name plate," says Robert Cosmai, vice president of national sales for Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, CA.

In little more than a year, the battered auto company has managed to shed its image of a company that built cars with quality problems in a country with labor problems in an area of the world with financial problems.

Mr. Cosmai says some of those problems fixed themselves such as the financial crisis in Asia abating. "We didn't have much to do with that," he says.

But he adds that the automaker worked hard to shed its quality image problem.

Hyundai Motor America sales are up 79% over last year. Mr. Cosmai says he expects to finish 1999 with 162,000 units sold. That's in contrast to 1998 when the company prayed it would reach the 100,000 unit mark.

"We've had a striking turnaround. It's been remarkable," says Mr. Cosmai. "And we're doing all of this without an SUV."

Hyundai's turnaround can be attributed to several different factors, enhanced brand image, better quality and more dealers. All of which the company wants to keep focusing on this year.

Mr. Cosmai says the Hyundai Advantage Warranty Package continues to boost consumer confidence. The industry's longest warranty offers 5-years/60,000 miles bumper-to-bumper and 10-years/100,000 miles on the powertrain.

"We're proud of the warranty package, not because we are trying to sell warranties, but because we stand by our product," Mr. Cosmai says.

The year 1999 also has the distinction of being Hyundai's best sales year of the decade, although it still falls short of sales Hyundai was racking up in the late '80s. Mr. Cosmai says the goal is to get back up to the sales numbers it generated from 1987 to 1989.

"The cars are repriced and repackaged, the dealers are refocused and overall quality is up. So 2000 should be a good year for Hyundai," says Mr. Cosmai.

As VP of sales, he says it is his goal to bring sales to the 200,000, which the company hasn't done since 1987 and 1988. He says the automaker will continue its advertising campaign, which entices buyers into the showrooms for test-drives. "We believe once we get customers in for a test drive, they'll buy our vehicles."

Mr. Cosmai says Hyundai has benefited from the overall strength of the auto industry in 1999. "In 2000, we plan to keep the beat going," he says. How? The launch of the Santa Fe SUV is one way. Mr. Cosmai also hints about another new vehicle that will be a step above the Sonata and will debut in the fourth quarter of this year. He says little about that impending vehicle other than it will be a moderately priced sedan.

Mr. Cosmai says he doesn't expect Hyundai's acquisition of Kia Motors to affect North American operations much, if at all. "That's driven more in Korea than here. In essence, we don't do anything with Kia per se. We still view them as competitors," he says.

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