, Columnist
Hyundai's Ambition Is Detached From Reality
The South Korean auto group’s sales goal looks unattainable, given its haphazard response to deteriorating markets.
Forget those futuristic bets and get back to basics.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Investors like targets — even ambitious ones — as long as they’re grounded in reality.
South Korea’s flailing automakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., are targeting combined sales of 7.6 million vehicles in 2019, slightly more than their 2018 target, the companies said in regulatory filings. That’s bold considering the global auto market is forecast to shrink at least 1 percent this year and that the group looks likely to have missed its goals for last year. Hyundai Motor stock fell as much as 4.2 percent.