Hyundai

New Thinking ~ New Possibilities

Hyundai Motor Group

~ Picture by HyundaiGFT Facebook

The first time I came to really appreciate Hyundai was in the 2003 movie "The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron."

Brian Cruver, an ambitious 26-year-old lands a job at Enron. As he assimilates to the company's get-rich-quick mantra, spending sprees and wild corporate "gatherings" become the norm. But when Enron files for bankruptcy, Cruver discovers he's just a pawn in a failing game of corporate greed—one that made the rich richer...while the rest lost everything

It is not specifically that I associate Hyundai with Enron as a bad entity, but the main character of the movie, which is based on the true story of Brian Cruver who was employed by Enron. In the movie when he arrived at his new office in a beat up Hyundai Coupe, his colleagues made fun of him, and said that he should change his car immediately when he gets his first salary and bonuses with Enron. 

It somewhat gave a bad impression of Hyundai in 2003, but for me even when Brian changed his car to a BMW Z3 after he made his first million, it gave a sense that Hyundai is a people's car and cheap as it may seem compared with the other established names in the business, I really think that it should be seen as a car that is reliable, good gas mileage and easy to maintain. A first car for everyone! 

Hyundai Coupe 1997 ~ it has come a long way. I mean really looooongggg

Look where it is now....! Hyundai Genesis Coupe

Now, back to the movie. 

Christian Kane played Brian in the movie, and well.... it did not do justice as Kane is a better looking Brian-version. For those of you who are not familiar with Kane's work:

Christian Kane as Brian in the movie

Kane is an American actor and singer/songwriter of Native American descent. He currently stars as Eliot Spencer on the TNT series Leverage. He is best known for his roles in the television shows Angel and Into the West, and the movies Just Married and Secondhand Lions.

Brian Cruver in 2003

Leverage TV Series - Kane, end left

Well, at least I tried. To me he is a good actor, but I don't see his biggest work as yet.

So, if I were to make a movie about myself - this is my better looking Afdal Izal.

Afdal Izal - the author

Dean Cain - Superman TV Series in the 1990s

Haha...


In the end, Brian Cruver's conscience got the better of him and decided to expose the wrong-doings of the company himself. Which I think epitomes the very spirit of Hyundai and Korea to always be the good guy, and though they say good guys finish last, but they finish with pride. 


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Hyundai Global Friendship Tour

The bus was less comfortable than POSCO's trip to Gwangyang but the ride was awesome

Now to the fun part. On 18-19 May 2012, Hyundai invited the KDI School of Public Policy and Management to visit its Asan automotive plant located about 1 and half hour from Seoul and to its steel plant roughly about 30 minutes from its auto plant.

Eye-catcher Genesis coupe - a sporty version of two-door four-seater car priced at:
  US$24,250 for the 2.0L turbo model and US$28,750 for the 3.8-liter GDI V6.

Genesis coupe

Another masterpiece. Hyundai Grandeur.

Hyundai Elantra showcase in Kuala Lumpur. 
Note on the re-badged INOKOM logo.

~ Picture by Khalil Zaiyany

The cars of Hyundai today are much modern and savvy (Not Proton Savvy) and it looks good too. Though in Malaysia, Korean cars tend to lose out to Japanese cars and Malaysia's Proton cars (because it is cheaper) but its image and quality has somewhat escalated with these new models that has brought new admiration to Hyundai. 

In the early 2000s, Hyundai in Malaysia were looked at as knock-offs of Jaguars with its Hyundai Sonata, Elantra and other models.

Panzini Jaguar

2002 Hyundai Sonata

In retrospect, KIA which I learnt is also under Hyundai has been given a national status carmaker in Malaysia since the 1990s with its collaboration of Malaysia's NAZA Automotive Company. Another Korean collaboration is the Hyundai-ATOS and later INOKOM which has a factory in Kulim, Kedah, the northern part of Malaysia and it is also given a national car status. In the long run, I think it is beneficial to both countries IF, and only IF technology transfer and knowledge sharing is given in order to give an edge to buyers in countries like Malaysia their value of money. I know that it is indeed too much to ask but if Korean cars were to be given a place in the hearts of potential car owners, this should be their top priority. 

Korean cars such as Hyundai is also viewed as a car that has low second hand value which is arguable due to the used car market of a particular country. In Malaysia, the sense is that Japanese cars get greater second hand value, a case in point is when my close colleague who bought a Honda Civic in 2007 for RM120,000 (US$43,000 - yeah I know it's expensive!) but after using it for a couple of years and selling it to a second hand car dealer, and after deducting the car loans and all, he gets back almost RM5,000 cash back (about US$1,900)!

But then again, who wants to buy a car just to sell it and get second hand value cash.

The re-badged Naza (KIA) Forte in Malaysia

Re-badged Naza Ria (KIA Carnival)  in Malaysia

Hence, this stigma among car-buyers perhaps in the ASEAN region of 550 million population of potential future car buyers should be addressed by Korean car companies and particularly Hyundai. This, if it aspires to be the number one car in the region.

In my personal experience when I wanted to buy a sports Multi-purpose Vehicle (MPV), the closest that came into my mind of a Hyundai model was the Hyundai Trajet.

Eight-seater 2.4 Hyundai Trajet

The interior was to my liking with three row-seater, but when I assessed it as a family man with 3 sons, I still wanted to travel in style. The Trajet was good if I were older and did not care about style or designs, but if it was more trendier and appealing to dads like me, I think it can be a best-selling car even with the moderate price tag of RM120,000 (US$40,000) for a 2.4 chassis MPV.

The presentation by the Public Relations Manager at Asan plant informed us that the Hyundai car-designers of today are from the US, Germany, Japan and other top car designers countries (I could only remember these three countries - I think Italy was mentioned too). My partner in the bus, a Korean-American born in  Los Angeles  also mentioned that some of the designers were engaged from competitors by offering them a position that whatever you design they will accept without question, and whatever you do they will produce it. So confident of their designs and I think that gamble has paid off.

From Asan Plant we went to its steel plant which is my second visit to such a plant. The first was to POSCO's Gwangyang and it was similar to my experience in the plant. However the comparison with Hyundai and POSCO is the way of their stockpiling (I wish I could show the pictures but it is their top national security concern that we do not publish the pictures).

POSCO's iron ore were exposed to the elements and I could remember that its stockpile is divided by a simple cemented brick wall. Hyundai's iron ore stockpile was covered in big domes that reminded me of the movie and game "DUNE" in the 1980s and 1990s.

Dune 2000 - the dome for spice mining in the game, it is on the right hand side

It is about the size of a baseball field and stadium, and can easily fit close to 50,000 people.

From the steel plant we made our way to Kensington Resort Hotel located in Namwon.

The three hours trip from Asan to Namwon by bus

We arrived at about 1900H and immediately had dinner. I have to commend the organizers for the excellent planning during the trip as we were well fed and everything went very smoothly.

I wished the name was Namwon Resort

The rooms had no bed, Korean traditional-style of sleeping which was okay with me!

We had a lecture by a 'former foreigner' Bob Holley who came here in 1981 as a law student and made comparisons with Korea in the 1980s. It was not much different with my country in the 1980s with outdoor toilets in the kampungs (villages), proud to see a mat salleh (mad sailor or white man) learning the roots of the new adopted country and the mixture of modern living and contemporary way of life.

Robert Holley: the Korean actor, international school owner and father of three handsome boys!

He reminded me of Amir Faizal, a good friend when we served together in Washington, with his fast-paced jokes and made remarks that was true about Koreans (without offending them). He is married to a Korean woman and is mighty proud of it too. To Bob, thank you for sharing your thoughts from a 'former foreigner' in Korea, and yes.... he is a naturalized Korean citizen now.

After a good night's rest, we moved further down south of the peninsular to Yeosu, about two hours from Namwon.

Namwon to Yeosu 2012 Expo!

The one thing I love about the highways in Korea is the elevated highways with tunnels from hill to hill. You were like flying over the river or on the mountains and one can just imagine the tons and tons of concrete and steel to construct miles of elevated highways.

Korean engineering at its best!

Arriving Yeosu was like entering a sleepy town of probably Setiawan, Perak, Malaysia and then you have the biggest party in the province when you see the 2012 Yeosu Expo! I was quite proud to see Malaysia's pavilion right in front of the entrance which I think is an excellent strategy and good work by the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Ministry of Malaysia as the lead agency responsible in representing Malaysia to this expo.

Malaysia's pavilion greeting us from the entrance. The Hanguel spelling is pronounced as Mal-le-i-si-a.

The organizers only gave us about three hours to cover the whole expo, and with all the time limitations, I decided that the international part should be visited for this trip. This year's theme were about marine life and conservation and exploration and I thought that most countries were creative with their own version of marine life. I had the opportunity to meet the Program Director for Malaysia's Pavilion, a nice Ms. Farah Shameen who was Assistant Director in Pulau Pinang's State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) in 2003. I first me her when I reported for duty to the Penang's State Secretariat in KOMTAR. The last time we met was last year when she finished her masters from Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan.

The crowd kept coming in to Malaysia's pavilion and even though it was small, the infotainment in the area was impressive.

SELAMAT DATANG ~ Welcome

Ajummas and Ajeossi (Aunties and Uncles)

If you want to know more, please visit Malaysia's Pavilion! Its open until August 2012!


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HYUNDAI PAVILION AT 2012 YEOSU EXPO


One of the highlights of the day was Hyundai's own pavilion, which in its true self embodies an upward image of renewing and refreshing its stature as one of the highest growing carmakers in the world. All of us 120 students of KDI were given direct entry to Hyundai's showcase of 3D imagery and smart entertainment as I would like to call it.

The cars move and the blocks are intertwined as if the cars are on the walls

~ Picture by HyundaiGFT Facebook

We were suppose to O-group near the Hyundai Pavilion at 1430Hours, and after having some Belgium Brussel Waffle for KRW9,000 (RM25 - which was delicious by the way) and Belgian fries (KRW4,000 = RM11) it was already 1420H. As any good time keeper and the constant reminders by the organizers, we ran to the pavilion as quickly as we could as not to be late.

KDI School Hyundai Global Friendship Tour - 120 strong intellectuals from more than 60 countries!
P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L!

~ Picture by HyundaiGFT Facebook

In all, it was truly an enriching experience of Korean automotive industry, Korean engineering, Korean-host international exhibition that was clean and friendly (but to see garbage bins was quite an adventure) and the many souvenirs we received along the trip.

I wish to end my experience sharing of the tour by Hyundai's own showcase right after we exited their Pavilion, with its New Thinking, New Possibilities tagline and the excellent reminder to our world - "Together for a better future"

Hyundai - untuk masa depan yang lebih baik

Much love and peace.

KDI School
2012 GFT