Hyundai opens new concept “Hyundai Motorstudio” in Seoul

Hyundai Motor has come out with a spectacular concept dealership dubbed as Hyundai Motorstudio” in its home market as part of its ongoing aggressive sales promotion efforts here and overseas .
Hyundai Motorstudio which has just been opened in Gangnam, south of the Han River, features a series of newly-curated retail and cultural experiences, as well as exhibits.

Gangnam has become global household name recently when Gangnam Style" of Korean musician Psy became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views in 2012.

Consisting of five floors, the studio also includes an auto library, a kids’ lounge, a premium customer lounge, a car-tuning lounge, a gallery, and a cafe in to relax and linger in. Hyundai’s first flagship brand showroom is expected to become one of Southern Seoul’s landmarks .

Specially-trained staff and curators will be on hand to help visitors enjoy each of its spaces and listen to customer feedback. With its attention to detail and unique design and program, “Our goal is to provide an environment where customers can naturally experience our Modern Premium brand values,” says Won-Hong Cho, Hyundai Motor’s chief marketing officer. “Every detail within Hyundai Motorstudio was designed to create synergy towards making our brand experience a culture in itself.”

Conceived by Eulho Suh of Suh Architects, Suh used 36,000 meters of steel pipes and anodized steel panels supplied by affiliates within the Hyundai Motor Group to create the interior and exterior architecture.

The world’s first ‘Car Rotators’ were also designed internally and installed for the showroom, allowing nine, full-size Genesis models to create the facade and central display of the building. The angle of each car will be adjusted every month, allowing customers to observe each car from every angle first-hand, including their undercarriages.

Furthermore, the building itself will be used as an art gallery ? the first exhibition at the store is ‘Principle of Motion’ by a London-based art group UVA (United Visual Artists). This video installation reinterprets the experience of driving through Korea through dynamic, moving patterns and rhythms.

Additionally, Hyundai Motor will expand its flagship brand showroom in other global cities, starting with one in Moscow in the second half of this year. With each new venue, Hyundai Motor will offer visitors a glimpse into more than its cars.

Hyundai has had a turbulent time in the United States where a product recall last year was followed by lackluster sales and a management shake-up. The automaker has also had fewer new models in its product line-up in recent years compared with rivals.

Ahead of new model launches, Hyundai increased buying incentives to clear its inventory, Lee said, which contributed to a 3 percent decline in first-quarter U.S. sales.

"We expect the U.S. launches of the new Genesis (in April) and Sonata (in June) to help improve our sales and operating margin from the second quarter," he said.

In China, the world's biggest auto market, Hyundai has been expanding sales and this month tasked its new local chief with expediting the construction of a fourth factory.

Adding capacity at its third Chinese plant helped raise sales in the country by 9 percent in the first quarter, though that was slower than the growth rates of Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and the U.S.'s Ford Motor Co (F.N).

At home in Korea, sales climbed 5 percent with the help of the luxury, higher-margin Genesis - revamped late in 2013 - as well as a recovery in production following a labor dispute a year earlier.

In the meantime overseas production by Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister brand Kia Motors Corp. in the first quarter hit a record 1,093,881 units.

The total represents a 6.1 percent increase from 1,031,316 vehicles in the same cited period last year and the highest reached in a three-month period, figures provided by the two automakers showed.

Foreign production of Hyundai cars rose 4 percent on-year to 754,222 units, while numbers for Kia shot up 10.9 percent to 339,659 vehicles.?

Hyundai said the increase stems from steady increase in production capacity in overseas production plants that are better tailored to meet specific market conditions.

Production numbers in China and Turkey have all gone up in recent months that helped output this year. Turkey's plant build Hyundai cars like the supermini i10 for Europe.