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Goes Both Ways: Free-trade pact sees South Korean brands losing share at home

France has been vocal, but not alone, in noting the rise of the South Korean automakers in Europe. The signing of a free-trade pact in 2011 between South Korea and the EU, along with the especially value-conscious buyers in a crisis-stricken Europe, has seen market share increases measuring in the double digits for Hyundai and Kia - analysts expect 14-percent growth for the two in 2012.
A report in Bloomberg has found that there's pain at the other end, too: The pact more than halved import tariffs on European cars headed to South Korea to 3.2 percent, and prices are now close enough to domestic offerings for more South Koreans to pay the premium for foreign luxury nameplates and the cachet they confer. Products sold by the five domestic automakers hogged 92 percent of the market last year, and sales have dropped 5.2 percent this year whereas import sales have risen by 24 percent. This will mark the first year that imports claimed ten percent of the market; compare that to 2002, when domestic market share in the world's 11th largest auto market was 99 percent.
The Germans are at the head of the arrow, counting for 65 percent of imported car sales, but every foreign maker has seen double-digit gains. Analysts think foreign makes could ultimately grab 15 percent of the market.

Hyundai details its five Super Bowl ads, Santa Fe is MVP [w/video]

If the Super Bowl were Las Vegas, Hyundai would be considered one of its whales. The South Korean automaker will be advertising for the sixth straight year during The Big Game, and this time it's rolling up with five spots, four of them new. The new 2013 Santa Fe gets the star treatment, featuring in three of the spots, but the theme throughout is using "a Hyundai vehicle as the ultimate sidekick and partner-in-fun."
The four brand new commercials are:
Epic PlayDate - the headliner, uses the Santa Fe for "an unforgettable and epic play date" and features a brand new song from "a legendary alternative rock band."

Ex-Hyundai CEO Krafcik joins TrueCar board amidst IPO plans

Former Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik has had a tumultuous year. Last June, he won the Automotive Executive of the Year from DNV Business Assurance. Then in December, he suddenly announced he was stepping down from his leadership role at the Korean automaker on January 1, with some suggesting it was because the company's sales growth was too far below forecasts. Now, it looks like the exec has landed a new role on the board of directors of online car shopping website TrueCar.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Krafcik's role will be to build relationships with automakers and dealers, but the job at TrueCar won't be full time. Since leaving Hyundai, Krafcik has also been doing consulting work in Silicon Valley. "It's helped me understand what I might want to do, full, full time. I am just taking things at the appropriate pace," he said to the Journal.
Krafcik, who is widely considered one of the industry's top executives, took the helm at Hyundai America in 2008 and led it to an increase in sales and market share. He was with the company when it won North American Car of the Year awards in 2009 and 2012 for the Genesis and Elantra, respectively.