Hyundai Revisits Henry Ford's Vision

WASHINGTON, DC - February 2, 2011: The AIADA newsletter reported Hyundai is bucking decades of automotive history by producing its own virgin steel instead of buying it from suppliers.

According to Forbes, the carmaker has invested $5.5 billion to open two new blast furnaces capable of producing eight million tons of automotive steel annually. Making steel rather than importing it would allow Hyundai to control prices and ensure adequate supply for its rapidly growing automotive business.

But even more important, Hyundai thinks it can gain a strategic advantage by using its own metallurgists to develop exclusive lightweight, high-strength steel alloys it needs to satisfy higher fuel economy standards.

“We’re the only car company that has its own steel plant,” said John Krafcik, chief executive of Hyundai Motor America. “We recognized a few years back that the key to meeting these incredible fuel efficiency targets – and keeping cars that are fun to drive and making them affordable – is great, lightweight, low-cost, structurally sound steel, which we weren’t able to get from the handful of steel suppliers in the industry who supply other automakers. So we boldly decided to turn our backs on convention and build our own steel plant.”

Click here for more on Hyundai’s move to produce its own steel for its vehicles.