Hyundai Motor Co has appointed Jose Munoz as global chief operating officer and Americas chief, tapping a man formerly considered an ally and potential successor of Nissan Motor Co Ltd's ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn.[SEOUL] Hyundai Motor Co has appointed Jose Munoz as global chief operating officer and Americas chief, tapping a man formerly considered an ally and potential successor of Nissan Motor Co Ltd's ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn.
The appointment comes at time when plunging sales in both China and the United States, the world's two-biggest auto markets, has prompted a major management overhaul. In the US, Hyundai is also the subject of a regulatory investigation into the timeliness of vehicle recalls involving defective engines.
" focus will be to deliver profitable growth and to improve overall performance of Hyundai Motor," the automaker said in a statement issued on Thursday in the United States.Since the promotion last year of Euisun Chung, the 48-year-old Hyundai Motor Group scion has in turn promoted executives brought in from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and automakers including Germany's BMW AG.
"If the Ghosn scandal is not resolved well, the appointment could adversely affect the company's image and lead to doubts about Mr Chung's personnel management capability," he said.