Hyundai faces grave challenges even as they seek to become the world’s fifth largest car maker. Their chairman, Chung Mong Koo, privy to every decision made at Hyundai, faces a year long appeal and possible jail time stemming from charges of embezzlement.

Chung was pivotal to bringing Hyundai from being the “butt of jokes” to standing as a viable competitor to Toyota, hoping to soon introduce  Hyundai’s  new mystery luxury brand, the BH, to challenge Toyota’s Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Nissan Motor Co.’s Infiniti. Unfortunately Chou’s legal crisis has delayed that.

“Delays in such symbolic and significant projects as the BH are very negative for the company, especially when the head of company’s legal problems caused them,” says Hyun Hye Jung, an analyst at Woori Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. in Seoul, which manages $5.7 billion, including Hyundai Motor shares. “It’s such a critical period to become a real global player and further delays will hamper its growth.”

Chung, the son of Hyundai founder Chung Ju Yung, took office in December 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis. He immediately introduced a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty on vehicles sold in the U.S. to counter a sales slump.

Sales in the U.S. began rising the next year and increased fivefold from 1998 through 2005. The carmaker also improved the quality of its vehicles, ranking third among brands last year in J.D. Power & Associates’ annual study.”
(source)