Report: Hyundai Motor America Fires CEO for Missed Sales Targets

Hyundai Motor America has fired CEO Dave Zuchowski “for failing to meet internal sales objectives,” reports Automotive News. His departure is effective immediately.

Jerry Flannery, executive vice president and general counsel, will take Zuchowski’s place until a permanent replacement is chosen. “We appreciate Dave’s decade of service to Hyundai, especially his leadership as president and CEO, which has made us a stronger organization,” Flannery said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with our dealers, affiliates, senior management and our talented and hard-working employees across the country to realize Hyundai’s full potential.”

After a career at Ford and Mazda, Zuchowski joined Hyundai in 2007 as sales boss and was well respected among dealers. He then took the helm as president and CEO in 2014, when Hyundai’s sales were starting to plateau.

Hyundai turned the corner as a company early this decade, when improved models like an all-new Elantra started to emerge. But since then, Hyundai hasn’t quite been able to maintain that explosive growth. Excluding the Genesis brand, Hyundai’s U.S. sales were up a mere 1.3 percent to 707,485 units through November. Of course, auto sales in general haven’t been quite as strong this year as they were in recent years.

While Hyundai may have built its reputation on affordable and efficient small cars, it has failed to take advantage of the hot crossover market. It doesn’t have a true full-size SUV, nor does it have a subcompact crossover offering.  Fortunately, there’s a good chance Hyundai and Kia are planning to introduce these vehicles in the near future, judging by the Kia Telluride concept and the Hyundai/Kia subcompact crossover prototypes we’ve spotted. Hopefully, these vehicles will make for a more well-rounded product profile in the near future.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required), Hyundai

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