ABSTRACT
The judgement of Chung Ju Yung, Chung Se Yung and their growing work-force was almost immediately was borne out by the numbers. The embarrassingly low production figures of the early 1970s, less than 3,000 cars assembled each year for the first three years of the decade, soon turned around. Hyundai, assembling only Cortinas, had surpassed GM Korea by 1974 and pulled far ahead with the introduction of the Ponies two years later. The numbers for 1976 were tiny — Hyundai’s output was 14,826 against 6,991 for Kia and 3,788 for Daewoo — but Hyundai never faltered. By 1978, the Pony had hit stride. HMC that year built 57,054 cars, 65% of the national output, setting the pattern for the future. 8
