Hyundai Motor America CEO Jose Muñoz wants his dealers to raise customer satisfaction scores and bring in record profits.
A key factor in that process will be the Accelerate dealer compensation program that has been tweaked in recent months to address dealer concerns about its payment guidelines. Munoz said the program has been made more "inclusive."
"This program has three pillars. One pillar has to do with the sales performance, another pillar has to do with customer satisfaction and the third pillar with facilities," Muñoz told Automotive News after Hyundai's make meeting during the NADA Show. "We had a lot of discussion with our dealer council, and it took us nine months to launch the program."
Muñoz isn't new to NADA make meetings, but this was his first as CEO of Hyundai Motor America.
When dealers got a taste of products in the pipeline, applause broke out, said Muñoz, who joined Hyundai last year. He came from Nissan Motor Co., where he most recently was chief performance officer and chairman of Nissan China.
He joined Hyundai at a time when the Korean automaker was revamping its lineup with a batch of new utility vehicles such as the large three-row Palisade and the subcompact Venue crossover. The brand also is fortifying its cars with the redesigned Sonata.
"I've been around for a few years on NADA meetings, and sometimes, as you know, it is difficult to get excitement," Muñoz said. "I got to tell you that there were two big applauses: When [Hyundai Motor America COO] Brian Smith presented the new Elantra and the refreshed Santa Fe. It was terrific and unsolicited, so I'm really, really, really happy today."
Muñoz added, "Now that we have the freshest, newest product portfolio in the industry, particularly with SUVs, we are getting ready for the next step. First is going to be bringing more state of the art product."
