Orange County’s cadre of carmakers had a stop-and-go 2018.
Sales increased for some, but not all, of the automotive firms that have significant operations here. And not every firm ended the year with the same executive team it started with.
Fresh blood emerged, thanks to a handful of upstarts calling OC home.
Here’s an overview of the top automotive stories we covered over the course of the year:
Power Shift
South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. shook up their North American offices this past summer, putting more power in the hands of their Orange County operations.
The companies reorganized their U.S. operations in July to give the regional headquarters in Fountain Valley and Irvine, respectively, more autonomy and control to adapt to changing markets and consumer demand.
Until recently, the regional headquarters had to seek approval from its Seoul headquarters before making key decisions.
Hyundai Motor North America is the new entity encompassing Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and its three sales units—Hyundai Motor America, Hyundai Motor Canada and Hyundai Motor Mexico.
Former Hyundai Motor Brazil Executive Vice President Yong-woo “William” Lee was named president and chief executive of the North America unit and interim president and chief executive of Hyundai Motor America.
Kia underwent a similar reorganization with the new unit Kia Motors North America, which will oversee manufacturing hubs in Georgia and Mexico, as well as its sales units in Irvine, Canada and Mexico. SeungKyu “Sean” Yoon serves as president and chief executive of both Kia Motors North America and Kia Motors America.
CEO Switches
A few of Orange County’s top automakers welcomed new chief executives into their ranks.
Hyundai Motor America named Lee its interim president and chief executive in October, succeeding Kyung Soo “Kenny” Lee, who returned to Korea in an advisory role.
Kia Motors America named Yoon chief executive and president in February after he served in the same role for Kia Canada. Yoon replaced Jang Won “Justin” Sohn, who now heads Kia’s Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East Operations.
Meanwhile, Fred Diaz took the reigns of Cypress-based automaker Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. in February. He joined the company last year as general manager of performance optimization for global marketing and sales after leading Nissan North America Inc.’s light truck and commercial sales operations.
Diaz succeeded Ryujiro Kobashi, who returned to Mitsubishi’s headquarters in Tokyo.
Genesis Reboot
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations and Mitsubishi were the only two automakers with increased sales through November. Year-end sales figures are reported in January.
Mazda sold 274,455 units, up 4.5% for the year. Mitsubishi reported year-to-date sales of 109,088, up 15% from the same period a year earlier.
Hyundai’s sales for the year remained flat at 602,527 vehicles. Kia’s sales was flat at 0.8% to 542,245 units.
Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis, in Fountain Valley reported the steepest year-to-date sales drop, selling only 9,698 units, down 45% year-over-year. While the luxury brand has won accolades—its G70 model, a rival to the BMW 3 Series, was named 2019 Motor Trend Car of the Year last month—sales dropped considerably over the course of the year as the company reformulates its dealer network. The automaker stopped shipping 2018 models in March and has been applying in each state for a separate dealer network from Hyundai.
Genesis expects to have 100 to 200 dealers by year-end.
Good Karma
Revitalized luxury brand Karma Automotive went on a hiring spree this year, bringing total employment to 1,000, including a local workforce of nearly 600. It still has several openings posted on its website, nearly 50 of them at its Irvine headquarters with a few positions requiring fluency in Chinese.
Jobs haven’t led to too many sales yet; the company is estimated to have sold about 1,000 cars to date.
Karma Chief Executive Lance Zhou, who succeeded Thomas Corcoran last year, outlined a new business and product strategy plan during a companywide employee meeting in October at its 262,000-square-foot Spectrum-area headquarters.
Details of the strategy haven’t been disclosed publicly, but the company said in a statement that it plans to deliver “innovative design, technology and personalization.”
During the same month, the electric car company unveiled a limited-edition Aliso Edition model starting at a whopping $145,000. Its main vehicle, the Revero, starts at a disclosed $130,000.
Karma has the backing of parent company Wanxiang Group Corp., the largest China-based automotive components company, with more than $23 billion in revenue.
The auto parts giant purchased the former Fisker Automotive and Technology Group LLC in a 2014 bankruptcy court auction for about $149 million in cash.
Welcome to OC
Another Asian carmaker announced last month it would be calling Orange County home.
Chinese firm Zotye Automobile International Co. plans to use Lake Forest-based distribution company HAAH Automotive Holdings to sell its vehicles in the U.S. by 2020, which would make it the first Chinese automaker to sell vehicles under its own brand name in the U.S.
It will operate as Zotye USA and plans to sell more than 10,000 cars at nearly 350 U.S. dealerships.
Initial offerings would be focused on either a small crossover vehicle or a midsize sports utility vehicle, according to trade reports. The models would likely compete with the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Nissan Rogue, all of which sell in the $25,000 range.
It hasn’t been disclosed whether Zotye will establish headquarters at the same office of its exclusive distributor, which is about three miles from Karma’s headquarters.
Meanwhile, Michigan-based electric car company Rivian is looking to shake up the industry with the help of its research and development facility in Irvine. The company moved to the 19,000-square-foot office last year and is looking to add to its staff of about 100 employees.
It unveiled plans for an all-electric pickup truck last month. It’s estimated to travel more than 400 miles on a single charge and can tow 11,000 pounds with its all-electric powertrain.
— Subrina Hudson
