"Hyundai is Awesome" says Honda CEO

A couple of months after Hyundai overtook Ford to become the world's 4th largest manufacturer (see link: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/18/hyundai-kia-overtakes-ford-as-worlds-4th-largest-automaker/ ), the CEO of Honda admitted what all the Japanese automakers were thinking:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.ASpx?AR=243787 

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/hyundai-is-awesome-says-honda-chief/ 

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/04/honda-chief-hyundai-is-awesome/ 

Thought you guys here might be interested in this bit of news!

No doubt, thats a appreciable achievement. And really they deserve it. In india also, in the month of September, 2009 they achieved their ever highest production with about 54,000 units. They really setting benchmark for other manufactuers.

Definitely,hyundai has come a long way.Today they are 2nd largest manufacturer in India.Buttt by this statement,honda has promoted the sales of i20 and further damaged the jazz's sales.

Honda being Honda would well bounce back. As they say identifying your competitions strengths are the first steps in beating them!

Brand Honda has well moved up the 'desirability' scale and they have cleverly positioned themselves as a 'premium' brand, and would be making more profit per unit sold than the mass market Hyundai models.

Hyundai's achievement is nothing short of stellar.It has taken less time than the Jap manufacturers did in the 60's and 70's to get acceptability amount mainstream buyers. With cars like the Genesis it would only be a matter of time before the German big three also sit up and take notice.

For premium segment ( Sedan) Honda is clearly the winner. Example Accord is much better than Sonata.

But in small car segment for which Hyundai is known for, they have scored over Honda – i20 is much better than Jazz.

Hyundai has proven itself in last 10 years. There after sales service is also good. launcing many models, version, aggressive marketing worked out for them. Also no major issues with the product quality.

there is nothing wrong in the comment given by CEO of Honda

In sales, yes.  That has to do with brand perceptions.

Car-for-car, the Sonata is as good (and in the diesel version, better) than the Accord.  For some strange reason the name 'Accord' has acquired a legendary sort status in India - which is totally out of sync with the actual product itself.

Its a bit like the 'Pajero' brand name in India - almost every Indian new arrival I know of here first wants to buy a 'Pajero' when he or she gets a license.  That is until they realize that the vehicle is at the bottom of the SUV market in terms of 'aspirational value' or 'perception' here - many of them buy their beloved 'Pajero' before they find that they are at the bottom of the brand chain there.

Hyundai should launch the Genesis here prefrably with a diesel engine and poistion it against the Superb, Camry & Passat.

@Amit

You made me laugh the hardest by comparing Hyundai Genesis with Camry, Passat etc.   American auto experts compare Genesis with Merc, BMW, Lexus etc.

in last 5-7  years, Sonata has checked the growth of sale of Accord and Camry in USA, as Japanese expected.