TangoRed

She's 100% not employed there anymore. Scott Vazin is in her position.

It definitely hasn't been updated. Also it can't be wrongful termination if she resigned. I'm sure they gave her a severance to go along with her termination though.

TangoRed

While I do feel bad for Zuchowski, I highly doubt these numbers came out of nowhere and that this termination was a surprise. The numbers might have been unrealistic, but he had to have known how things go at Hyundai before taking this job over from Krafcik.

SW17LS

That's no necessarily true. Even if she resigned she can still potentially claim that she was forced out of her position and was de facto terminated.

TangoRed

True. These also get messy if she signed any documents on her way out regarding severance pay; the 3 companies I've worked for have usually have enough legalese written into severance agreements that they force you to go into arbitration before suing. This is of course further complicated because she was an expat.

SW17LS

And all of this stuff going on is likely why we haven't heard or seen her move on anywhere else

TRDRAV4

The Korean cross-cultural politics Dave had to deal with wasn't too dissimilar with what many US Toyota execs deal with when they go to Japan.

mmarshall

What I meant by "Numbers doing out of a hat" was not necessarily numbers coming from nowhere, but (more or less as you put it)...........simply setting official sales-goals without realistic expectations if those goals are attainable or not in the current economic climate. Given Hyundai and Kia's stratospheric rise in the auto industry in recent years (rivaling Toyota's in some ways), one cannot realistically expect those numbers to keep going up and up at the same rate forever. Even if they were to put a guy like Bob Lutz in there in Dave's place (and Bob can work magic if any auto-exec can)....they wouldn't necessarily meet arbitrary sales-goals.

TangoRed

We don't know the exact sales goal that Zuchowski failed to make, so calling them arbitrary or unrealistic as a matter of fact is the wrong thing to do. We do know that Hyundai's volume was only up 1.3% through November despite a heavy fleet mix. Also I really don't think Bob Lutz is the one in a million exec as people make him out to be. While he certainly has an impressive resume and lots to be proud of, there are many other talented people out there; they just aren't as loud and crass as Mr. Lutz. And truly, I was unimpressed by most of Lutz's initiatives at GM during the 2000's.

mmarshall

What I said was unrealistic (or at least meant, if i didn't make it clear) was the idea that car companies can keep growing forever at double-digit rates, as Hyundai sometimes did in the past. What executives and stockholders may want, and what they actually get, is often two different things. Canning the boss won't necessarily help things, either. Look at Chrysler, for instance. Even with a number of different bosses and several government bailouts, true profitability eluded them for decades....Even Mercedes and strict German management couldn't make them profitable, though Fiat has had somewhat better luck with them.

Lutz did a lot of good at GM. Though it finally took a major reorganization and a big buyout composed of government, union, and bondholder money to complete the job, Lutz started the whole process of changing GM vehicles from rental-grade, cookie-cutter, El Cheapo-designs to true credibility and competiveness.

Toys4RJill

Well said. I agree with what you have said.

TangoRed

Mercedes was the prime reason Chrysler Co. was in such bad shape during the 2000's. That was a complete blunder and Juergen Schrempp is a madman. Bob Eaton should be ashamed of himself too. Both Daimler and Chrysler are lucky that greater sense prevailed and Daimler-Chrysler was broken up. You should read this: (starting at Project Blitz): http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/...en-E-1944.html

And the merger from the American perspective: http://www.autonews.com/article/2009...under-schrempp

mmarshall

Oh, yes, I know that Juergen Schrempp was a less-than-perfect manager (though VW's Ferdinand Piech would make him look like a saint LOL). Perhaps I could have phrased it a little better...what I was trying to say is that, under M-B's umbrella, Chrysler didn't have to give the same kind of account that it did when they were on their own.

GS69

http://www.autonews.com/article/2017...gh-sales-month

Hyundai's U.S. sales chief Hatami is out after tough sales month

June 6, 2017 @ 3:04 pm

David Undercoffler

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Hatami, 44, was selected as an Automotive News Rising Star last year.

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LOS ANGELES -- Derrick Hatami, who rejoined Hyundai Motor America as its U.S. sales chief in 2015 after a brief stint at Nissan, is leaving the company, effective immediately.

His departure was announced to Hyundai employees and dealers on Tuesday. He will take a position at a different company.

Hatami's decision to depart follows the December 2016 firing of Hyundai's U.S. CEO, Dave Zuchowski, and comes on the heels of a tough May for the South Korean automaker, in which Hyundai brand sales dropped 18 percent to 58,259 units. For the year, sales are down 7.5 percent to 283,547 units. The brand's U.S. light-vehicle sales have dropped 6 straight months year over year. Those numbers exclude the new Genesis luxury division, which has sold 8,306 units this year. Hyundai's numbers have been hampered by a shift away from fleet sales, without an offsetting boost in incentive or marketing spending. Also weighing down Hyundai is a car-heavy product mix and tight production capacity for the Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport crossovers.

Hyundai said it would begin a search for Hatami's successor immediately. In the interim, it said, Sam Brnovich, Hyundai's southern regional general manager, "will support the overall sales organization."

"Derrick served the company well during his time as head of sales and we wish him nothing but success," Hyundai said in a statement to Automotive News.

Hatami, who was selected as an Automotive News Rising Star last year, joined Hyundai in 2005 and worked his way up to general manager of the western region. He left in January 2014 to become Nissan's sales chief, a role he held until September 2015, when he returned to Hyundai to replace Bob Pradzinski as vice president of sales.

Toys4RJill

It always amazes me that so many people say Hyundai is great, they are so much better than they were in the past. There is the long warranty. Then you have a story above that they have dropped in sales for the last 6 months.

SW17LS

Quality of product and sales of product don't always equal each other...

I'll have to look at the sales, last time this happened sales were in fact up, just "not enough"