Hyundai Group

▪ South Korean corporation

      major diversified corporation in South Korea. The international company supplies a product line that ranges from ships to stereo equipment. Headquarters are in Seoul.

      Hyundai began as a construction firm founded by Chung Ju Yung in 1947. The company operated within South Korea until 1965, when it initiated a road building project in Thailand that marked the beginning of its growth into a multinational conglomerate.

      In the firm's first move outside the construction field, Hyundai in 1967 formed Hyundai Motor Company, which grew to become the country's largest producer of automobiles. It exports cars and trucks throughout the Far East. The company moved into the shipbuilding market in 1973 with the formation of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which produces a variety of vessels, ranging from custom yachts to supertankers. The Hyundai Group also includes divisions that build and export diesel and electric locomotives, freight cars, and passenger coaches for the railroad industry, and offshore drilling and extraction equipment to the oil industry.

      International exports range from heavy industrial equipment to consumer products, and include cement, pianos, military uniforms, and consumer electronics products. Hyundai is represented on all continents but Australia, and has a number of international subsidiaries under its control.

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