The Hyundai Motor Company was established in 1967, the automotive arm of the Hyundai "chaebol", or conglomerate company.
The Cortina, the company's first vehicle, was co-developed with Ford Motor Co. in 1968. The American automaker sold the mid-sized sedan primarily in European and Asian markets. Hyundai's first fully-developed car, the Pony, debuted in 1975.
The Hyundai Excel, the company's wholly-owned vehicle, debuted in the U.S. market in 1986. Due to its staggeringly low price, buyers snapped it up and the vehicle set a record (over 168,000) as the most imports sold at its debut. Unfortunately, the Excel's questionable quality led to ridicule, and Hyundai discontinued sales in 1989.
The company, though, didn't leave the U.S. market. In 1988, Hyundai introduced the Sonata mid-sized sedan in the U.S. In the late Nineties, Hyundai, to help it offset its damaged reputation, enacted its now famous "10 year or 100,000 powertrain warranty". It also poured resources to improve its vehicles' quality and luxury while investigating ways to keep prices low.
Hyundai acquired Kia Motor Co. in 1986 after it went bankrupt to create the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.
Other Hyundai vehicles known, besides the Sonata, include the entry level Accent and the Entourage minivan. New vehicles include the Santa Fe SUV and even larger Veracruz. In 2004, J.D. Power and Associates ranked Hyundai in second in initial quality and the automaker continues to score highly in other tests.
The automaker recently debuted a new sedan concept, Genesis, which many reporters believe signal Hyundai's intention to enter the luxury market in competition with Toyota's Lexus brand.
Hyundai and Kia have experienced phenomenal growth over the past few years, even as the rest of the auto industry was embroiled in an ugly downturn. In fact, 2011 was a terrific year for the Korean automaker, as sales jumped by double digits globally. But while Hyundai/Kia has been on fire of late, Reuters reports that company officials feel that 2012 isn't likely to return the same gains.
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