Apple car fracas marks first public setback for Hyundai boss

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung -- central to the company’s transformation from conventional carmaker to mobility giant promoting flying cars and hydrogen-fuel cells -- had his first, very public, stumble this week.

On Monday, after a month of intense speculation around who may team with Apple Inc. to help develop its much-vaunted self-driving electric car, Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. were forced in separate exchange filings to say they weren’t in any talks with the tech behemoth, backing away from an earlier Hyundai statement that confirmed they were in discussions.

That Jan. 8 initial disclosure, along with other reports of talks, no doubt infuriated Apple, which keeps development projects secret for years and controls relationships with suppliers with ruthless efficiency. It’s unclear if -- or when -- discussions between the two might resume.

Hyundai “might have learned some lessons through this issue,” said Koh Tae-bong, head of research at HI Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “Keeping internal discussions internal is important.”

The fracas -- which saw Hyundai edit and dial back its January statement twice -- is an embarrassment for Chung, who took over from his father Mong-Koo Chung as chairman of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate in October after two years as executive vice chairman. And if talks with Apple never restart, it’s a small disappointment, considering there are only a handful of global automakers with the capacity and capability to mass manufacture vehicles.

It’s also an unfortunate setback in what has been a relatively smooth run for Chung thus far. In his four months at the helm, and during his previous tenure, Chung has demonstrated his dealmaking prowess and set Hyundai on a course that noses it toward a cleaner, greener future.

There have also been tie-ups with Uber Technologies Inc. and Aptiv for the development of flying and autonomous cars, with plans to debut the former as soon as 2028. Hyundai hydrogen fuel-cell trucks are already on the roads in Switzerland.

Chung has also sought to improve profitability at Hyundai Motor, adding more utility vehicles to the lineup and investing in the carmaker’s electric-vehicle ambitions. Hyundai Motor will start selling the Ioniq 5, its first EV assembled on the company’s dedicated EV platform, next month in Europe.

In December, Hyundai Motor Group scored a coup after it struck a deal to buy 80 percent of Boston Dynamics Inc., a transaction that valued the mobile robot firm at $1.1 billion. The broader Hyundai empire is exploring practical uses for industrial robots, with the aim of one day developing them for sophisticated services like caregiving for patients at hospitals.

There have been other, earlier, wins too.

Chung gained investor support in March 2019 when he successfully derailed Elliott Management Corp.’s bid to overhaul the board, a year after the activist hedge fund blocked an $8.8 billion merger of the chaebol’s two units. That enabled Chung to move ahead with his push to invest billions of dollars in future technologies, as well as embark on a wholesale restructure.

The 50-year-old has since been working to improve the company’s culture, communicating more frequently with staff and encouraging employees to leave their suits and ties at home and come to work in more casual attire, an edict once hard to imagine at a big Korean firm where social etiquette is important. That same year, Chung held town hall meetings and took selfies with staff.

“We need to transform the group from being a follower into a leader in the industry with innovative ideas,” Chung said in his speech to staff in January 2019. “We have to shift away a culture where failures are avoided and criticized to a culture where we embrace failures and learn from them.”

While a lesson in how to play the big leagues, the Apple car experience may turn out to be a good thing for Chung and Hyundai, by re-focusing its ambitions, according to Kim Jin-woo, analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co., which rates Hyundai a buy.

“Hyundai has the know-how on how to manage supply chains with its experience of more than four decades,” Kim said. “The Apple news could have become a catalyst for stock prices, but Hyundai has been developing its own projects for future mobility.”

Investors have already started to listen. Shares in Hyundai Motor jumped almost 60 percent in 2020 while stock in Kia rose 41 percent  -- an impressive result in a year many automakers would rather forget as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on sales. Hyundai gained 2 percent on Tuesday, bringing gains since January to 24.5 percent.

Kia last month rebranded with a new, sleeker logo, scrapping its oval shaped badge and announcing a fresh slogan ‘Movement that inspires’ to replace its older ‘Power to surprise’ mantra.

“Hyundai’s ultimate goal isn’t to become an Apple car supplier,” said Kim Joon-sung, an analyst at Meritz Securities Co. in Seoul, who also rates Hyundai a buy. “It would want to be the next Tesla.”