Hyundai Motor Company has appointed its first foreign Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in an attempt to expand the company outside of South Korea and solidify its leadership in areas such as electrification.

South Korean automotive giant, Hyundai Motor Company (HMC), has appointed Jose Munoz as its new President and CEO, effective from 1 January next year. He will be the first foreigner to lead the company and is expected to help it expand outside of South Korea. 

Munoz will be Co-CEO, along with Euisun Chung and Lee Dong-seok. 

He will be taking over from the current president and CEO Jaehoon Chang, who has now been promoted to Vice Chair of Hyundai Motor Group. Muñoz will be responsible for the company’s south and north American operations and will focus on building Hyundai Motor’s worldwide brand. 

One of his key aims as the new Co-CEO will also be to strengthen Hyundai Motor’s position in next-generation mobility. This includes more powertrain offerings, as well as electrification and hydrogen technology. He will also be focused on better executing Hyundai’s global vision, ‘Project for Humanity’, which takes a customer-focused approach. 

Muñoz has been with Hyundai Motor since 2019, in roles such as president and global Chief Operating Officer (COO), as well as president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America. As part of the Global Operations branch, he has also headed service, sales and product planning. 

He has been instrumental in achieving record sales, better performance for both the Genesis and Hyundai brands and a higher market share.