Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong Koo Highlighted in Time Magazine

Hyundai, originally uploaded by dsoutherton.

Hyundai Motor is credited with a quantum leap in growth in the cover story of the U.S. news magazine Time’s “Global Business” section in its Asia edition, to be published on April 25.

The U.S. current affairs magazine Time in its latest issue lavishes praise on Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-koo, who it says turned the automaker into a global success story by effecting one of the most surprising turnarounds in automotive history.

Time picked the company's rapid growth as the cover story of the "Global Business" section of its April 25 Asian edition, Hyundai said Tuesday.

In a four-page special feature, Time says Chung turned Hyundai Motor into a global carmaker through stringent quality control. The magazine recounts how the company suffered from serious quality control problems when it first entered the U.S. market with the Excel at a price tag of US$4,955, but the quality of its vehicles rapidly improved, with a recent U.S. survey placing Hyundai in a tie for second place with Honda on quality.

It also notes that the company has experienced rapidly increasing sales in the U.S. and Europe due to aggressive foreign sales strategies, while in the fiercely competitive Chinese market it climbed to No. 1 in just two years. Time says Hyundai has been the world's fastest growing carmaker since 1999.