Amid the most sluggish new car market in decades, Korean automaker Hyundai says it is turning its near-to-long term focus on emerging markets where growth is expected in the small car market. Hyundai’s Mong Hyun Yoon, director for business strategy, said yesterday that the automaker will concentrate on Africa, China, India, the Middle East and South America rather than its former hotspots of Europe and North America.
“We are afraid 2009 will be very tough year for automakers,” Yoon told members of the media at a conference in Hong Kong.
Yoon said that the automaker will focus on small cars because the weak economy will push people into smaller, more efficient automobiles and out of the larger vehicles Hyundai had been pushing especially in North America.
Earlier this year, Hyundai introduced its first V8 models into the North American market, the Genesis sedan and the Kia Borrego SUV.
Hyundai has lowered its sales target for 2008 to 3.02 million vehicles – down from 3.11 million previously targeted – thanks to dramatically slumping demand in North America and Europe.
