Hyundai Motor said it elevated chief marketing officer Cho Won-hong
to executive vice president. Cho, 50, was handpicked by the
automaker' s heir apparent Chung Eui-sun, people familiar with the
matter said.
Its domestic public relations chief Kong Young-woon, who too is 50,
was also elevated to the post, making the duo the second-youngest
executive vice presidents currently at Hyundai.
At Kia, Kim Gyun, a 52-year-old at the strategic planning division,
was also promoted to executive vice president.
"When you look at this year's management reshuffle at Korean firms,
you have to focus on executive vice presidents, not CEOs, because
they are the ones who will support scions when they take over," said
Chung Sun-sup, head of local research firm Chaebul.com.
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"The promotion of young executives should pave the way for the
future of the junior Chung," he said.
Both Hyundai and Kia did not elaborate on the reasons for the
promotion of the executives.
While Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo, 76, has given no
signal that he plans to step down soon, he is expected to eventually
hand over reins to his only son and vice chairman, Eui-sun, who is
44.
At Samsung Electronics, vice chairman Jay Y. Lee is seen
accelerating moves to take over from his father Lee Kun-hee, who was
hospitalized in May for a heart attack.
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Cho, who earned an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania and served as head of consultancy Monitor Group's
Korean office, started his stint at Hyundai in 2010.
"Automakers are injecting younger blood into the organization to
cope with a paradigm shift and lead innovations," said Lee Hang-koo,
a senior researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for
Industrial Economics and Trade.
BMW said early this month that Harald Krueger, a 49-year old
production chief, will succeed Norbert Reithofer as chief executive
of the German car maker in May of next year.
(Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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