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Hyundai Motor Philippines brings the Korean brand back to PH market

New distributor will focus on rebuilding brand and customer satisfaction

Lee Dong Wook is the president of HMPH. PHOTO BY SAM SURLA

It’s official: Hyundai will be relaunching its brand in the Philippines this July. This time, Hyundai Motor Philippines (HMPH) will be taking over, with Lee Dong Wook as president of the company.

And if you’re wondering about the previous distributor—Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI)—it will be in charge of distributing the brand’s commercial vehicles (trucks and buses), while HMPH will focus on the passenger cars.

Essentially, the new company will be starting over from scratch, with a heavy focus on customer satisfaction and rebuilding the brand in our market. There will be 39 new dealerships (which are expected to balloon to 44 by the end of the year), a new logistics center, and a whole new team under its wing. In fact, its office (located in Bonifacio Global City) will be officially inaugurated tomorrow, June 1st.

Expect to see these cars officially for sale very soon. PHOTO FROM HYUNDAI

But more exciting are the cars that the automaker says it will be bringing in.

This July, expect to see the Creta (a B-segment crossover), the new Tucson, the Staria, the Santa Fe and the Palisade entering our market, followed by a brand-new MPV model that will compete with the likes of the Toyota Avanza and the Mitsubishi Xpander next year.

The Creta and the new MPV will be sourced from Hyundai’s Indonesia plant, while the other models will be coming from Korea. Finally, the Reina subcompact sedan will be axed, and the Venue will now come from India.

We hope HMPH will bring any of these three soon. PHOTOS FROM GENESIS AND HYUNDAI

And if you’re curious about electrification, the brand will skip hybrid models and go straight to full EVs, like the Ioniq 5. But expect to wait for a bit, as the manufacturer is still conducting a feasibility study and waiting for the country’s infrastructure to catch up once the EV law comes into full effect.

Expect also other mobility solutions, as well as the possibility of the luxury-oriented Genesis and the performance-oriented N nameplate. Truly exciting times are ahead for the South Korean brand.



Sam Surla

Sam is the youngest member of our editorial team. And he is our managing editor (believe it or not). He specializes in photography and videography, but he also happens to like writing about cars a lot.



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