SPECIAL FROM HYUNDAI ALABAMA: Open for Business!

By Frank Giovinazzi, Contributing Editor AIADA

MONTGOMERY -- The party may be over, but in some ways Hyundai is just getting started.

On Friday, the company celebrated the opening of it’s first American manufacturing plant, a $1.1 billion investment that will employ 2,000 workers and build 300,000 vehicles a year.

Hyundai spared no expense to celebrate their achievement, inviting over 4,000 government officials, car dealers, media and dignitaries -- even going so far to bring in a Korean Air Lines plane for visiting execs and suppliers, and shutting down the line for the afternoon so their team members could attend the festivities. Former President George Bush attended, as did Chung Mong-Koo, Hyundai’s Chairman, Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright.

Now their work really begins. After several years of rapid growth in quality and sales, Hyundai aims to take on the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in the midsize sedan segment, with their all-new Sonata that is now built in Montgomery. To do this, the company expects to have 700 U.S. dealers by the end of 2005, up from 664 currently in business.

Dan O’Brien, who owns Extreme Hyundai in Bloomington, Illinois, and attended the event, said the Alabama-built Sonata is just what the dealer body needs to reach Hyundai’s sales goal of 500,000 units this year.

"It’s an excellent car, from fit, finish and styling, to room and safety -- they’ve got a winner," O’Brien said. "But what really impressed me was the pride -- these people have a lot of pride in what they’re building and I’m excited to sell them."

Bob Cosmai, president of Hyundai Motor America, said the Montgomery plant will produce about 80,000 Sonatas this year. Since opening in early May, the plant has been ramping up production and plans to add a second shift in the coming weeks. The plant will begin producing the Santa Fe SUV in January 2006.

When asked who their competition was, Cosmai was clear Hyundai is targeting the "Japanese Big Three."

"We’re atracting cross-shopping with the Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans of the world," Cosmai said.

To take market share away from other surging International nameplates, Hyundai must continue to advance the quality initiative introduced by Chairman Chung Mung Koo when he took over the company in 1999. The continual drive to satisfy Chung’s "zero defect" standard will be aided by the Montgomery plant’s largely automated processes.

For example, the first three stages of production -- stamping parts from raw metal, welding them into a frame and then painting the chassis -- are all done with over 300 robots that move materials from beginning to end without being touched by human hands. The most labor intensive part of the process is the general assembly stage, where about more than half the line workers are employed to add components.

Thanks to the heavy automation -- once a frame is received from the first three stages, a car can be assembled in six and a half hours -- every car that comes off the line is subject to a complete inspection that includes a 2.3 mile road test, a brake and alignment check and a five-minute shower in a water test booth to check for leaks and paint blemishes.

Everyone involved -- from Hyundai’s top executives to the team members on the line -- are aware the Sonatas they are building are critically important to the company’s momentum.

The Sonata is the second of seven new vehicles Hyundai is introducing in a 24-month period, following on the treads of the Tucson compact SUV which is proving a hit with gas-price weary consumers.

And just like the Tucson, the Sonata delivers on the same philosophy of offering best-in-class styling and features at a price point at or slightly lower than its competitors’ similarly equipped models. The Sonata comes in four models, with four and six-cylinder engine options, all of which come standard with six airbags and four-wheel independent suspension. Prices for the Sonata range from $17,895 to $22,895. Prices for the Toyota Camry start at $18,195 and run to $25,555; Honda Accord prices range from $16,295 to $28,850.