Hyundai Motor, Toyota chiefs bring mixed strategies while looking to the past

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Euisun Chung [Photo by Kim Ho-young]

The third-generation chiefs of Hyundai Motor Group and Toyota Motor Corp. are shedding light on the past and each of their first independent vehicle models in a move to seek strategies for future growth.

Hyundai Motor Co. recently unveiled a prototype of the Pony Coupe Concept in its original form while Toyota Motor restored the first-generation model before presenting the hybrid model of the 16th generation Crown in Tokyo last year.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Euisun Chung transformed the auto giant into the world’s third-largest automaker. His business rival, Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor lifted Toyota out of a massive recall crisis to become the world’s No.1 automaker.

The two chiefs are now looking to the past to find answers for growth.

Chung and Toyoda share the view that knowing the past is the key to dealing with the future but there are subtle differences in their approaches.

Chung has laid out a blueprint for the future of mobility based on the discontinued model from more than 33 years ago while Toyoda has focused on inheriting the past glory of a model that has been sold for nearly 70 years.

The Pony and Crown are considered iconic models that represent both Hyundai Motor and Toyota Motor today. However, their approach to design is very different.

Hyundai has not been afraid to bring in outside experts to help them improve in terms of design. Pony, released in 1975, was designed by Italian automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.

After its founder and the late Chairman Chung Ju-young personally traveled to Turin, Italy, in late 1973, and requested Giugiaro for car designs, the Italian designer designed Hyundai’s early models, including the Pony, Pony Excel, Presto, Stella, and the first and second generations of the Sonata. The Pony Coupe Concept is also the result of Giugiaro’s design.

On the other hand, Toyota’s Crown, launched in 1955, was completed by its engineers.

Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor [Photo provided by Toyota]

A senior engineer named Kenya Nakamura was responsible for the exterior design and suspension technology of the first-generation Crown.

Toyota produced the first Crown with the goal of making a Japanese luxury car with its own technology.

Toyota’s emphasis on its own technology is also evident in its current personnel composition.

Simon Humphries, who has been the head of Toyota‘s design division since 2019, is British but a true Toyota man who joined the company in 1994.

His predecessor, Tokuo Fukuichi, also joined Toyota at the age of 24, right after graduating from college in 1974. The loyalty shows that Toyota has a strong tendency to inherit existing results while pursuing changes in vehicle design.

In contrast, Luc Donckerwolke, chief creative officer of Hyundai Motor, SangYup Lee, head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center, and Karim Antoine Habib, head of Kia Design Center, have all joined from the outside.

Hyundai Motor recruited those who have been recognized for their skills at European and American automakers to oversee design and has received accolades for their car designs targeting the global market.

The N Vision 74, a high-performance hydrogen-electric hybrid vehicle that adopted the design of the Pony Coupe Concept, was selected last year as the most popular vehicle of the year by Top Gear, a prestigious British auto magazine.

Established in 1937, Toyota was once considered a benchmark that Hyundai Motor, established in 1967, should follow.

The different perspectives of the two chairmen on brand heritage are also reflected in the current situations of the two companies.

Toyota Chairman Toyoda, who led the company as president from 2009 until earlier this year, recently took a step back from management after being slow to move toward electric vehicles (EVs), saying that “hybrids are the future.”

This year, Toyota is ramping up efforts for electrification, pledging to sell 3.5 million EVs per year by 2030, but it is still behind Hyundai Motor Group’s target of 3.64 million units.