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http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...hief-zuchowski

Hyundai fires U.S. chief Zuchowski

General Counsel Jerry Flannery named interim CEO

December 21, 2016 @ 11:50 am

David Undercoffler

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Dave Zuchowski, who joined Hyundai as U.S. sales chief in 2007 and was widely respected in the dealer body, took the CEO position at the start of 2014.

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LOS ANGELES -- Hyundai Motor America has fired CEO Dave Zuchowski for failing to meet internal sales objectives, multiple sources familiar with the situation told Automotive News.

The decision is effective immediately. Jerry Flannery, 59, general counsel and an executive vice president, will be the interim CEO until a successor is chosen. Hyundai said it will begin its search immediately.

Hyundai’s dealer body was informed Tuesday night of the decision.

“We appreciate Dave’s decade of service to Hyundai, especially his leadership as president and CEO, which has made us a stronger organization,” Flannery said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with our dealers, affiliates, senior management and our talented and hard-working employees across the country to realize Hyundai’s full potential.”

Zuchowski, 58, who joined Hyundai as U.S. sales chief in 2007 and was widely respected in the dealer body, took the CEO position at the start of 2014, succeeding John Krafcik, just as Hyundai’s growth was beginning to slow.

While the brand survived and even thrived early in his tenure as sales boss following the Great Recession, it struggled to maintain its pace as falling gasoline prices led the U.S. market to shift away from Hyundai’s bread-and-butter small cars and toward crossovers and SUVs, segments where the brand is weak or nonexistent and where supply shortages have dented sales.

Hyundai’s U.S. sales through November were up 1.3 percent to 707,485 units, excluding the new Genesis luxury brand, which recorded 1,306 units. U.S. sales for the Hyundai make, including models that now fall under the Genesis umbrella, hit a record in 2015 of 761,710 units, up 5 percent from the previous year, but the growth rates are down from double-digit growth in 2010 and 2011.

Zuchowski, a 36-year veteran of the auto industry, joined Hyundai from Mazda North America, where he was vice president of sales and field operations.

Zuchowski’s ultimate successor will oversee the continued development of Genesis in the U.S. and Hyundai’s aggressive move into alternative-fuel vehicles in the U.S., including the launch of its Ioniq sub-brand. Hyundai plans to release 14 new alternative-fuel models in the U.S. by 2020.

SW17LS

Interesting...

Mr Johnson

That's two very successful people (from the outside) that they've let go in the past 3 years for what basically amounts to not meeting arbitrary goals. John Krafcik departed when they blamed him for not selling more when their main problem was factory production constraints. Now after seemingly doing well by outpacing the industry in sales with a portfolio that is missing entries in some hot markets (which results in increased incentives and fleet sales for the cars) they appear to dump Dave Zuchowski too. If I were Jerry Flannery I'd be none to happy about the promotion.

mmarshall

Maybe those objectives were unrealistic. One cannot simply pull numbers out of a hat and expect them to be met.

Seems like no good deed goes unpunished.

All I can say is good luck on the search...........while Dave gets the last laugh, out enjoying a nice round of golf.

TangoRed

Maybe now Genesis will get that FWD crossover CTJill wants.

Jerry is only stepping into that position in the interim, he's in no immediate danger. But yes Hyundai's management style with their executives is interesting to say the least- they've traditionally had a very short leash on U.S. execs.

RXSF

very interesting news. While the mainstream models have been doing fairly well, I will say that the premium models have been hard to push, though this is more public perception than fault of CEO

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Like VW diesel mpg?

The numbers can be met, but with consequences. You can drop the price, sink the car with severe depreciation, and make the brand even less desireable.

Such hubris can only be realized after such decisions.

Maikerusan

I have worked in a number of places that set arbitrary goals. Doesn't really matter how they set them, but they sure punt out if you don't meet them.

TangoRed

The premium models weren't really the issue. The SUV lineup should've been stronger and Zuchowski got blamed for that.

LexBob2

From a corporate standpoint I'd wager there is more to the story than just not meeting the numbers. Mr. Zuchowski may very well write a book. A lot of outgoing execs do.

Sulu

But what if the weak SUV lineup was not his fault but Hyundai corporate's fault for not designing and building them, so that there were no SUVs to sell? Hyundai product planning should be blamed (and that would be a multi-year process).

Aron9000

There's more going on here than "not meeting sales goals" IMO Two years of 10% growth in sales is damn impressive. Sales are up 5% this year, there is only so much you can do especially if you're restricted on supply for hot SUV's.

davyjordi

they already tried that and, as you've stated, the consequences were unfavorable to say the least.

Toys4RJill

Not sure what the exact root cause of his departure is, but it looks like Hyundai is under performing in the United States. So far to date, Hyundai has sold 700,000+ units via 800 dealers. Contrast that to Toyota where they are 2.2 million units via 1200+ dealers. If Hyundai is under performing, how successful could the current leader be with the launch of the new Genesis sub brand.

SW17LS

Hyundai is not under performing because Toyota greatly outsells them. Being #1 is not everybody's business goal.