The Hyundai Equus is easy to spot prowling the streets of Seoul. This super-sized saloon, the South Korean manufacturer's answer to the BMW 7 series and the Mercedes S class, is a favourite limousine for top-end hotels and airport transfers.
A local rival car producer, Ssangyong, offers a similar ultra-luxurious model, the Chairman, that is also a common sight on the city boulevards.
These two models, nearly always black, are at the pinnacle of South Korea's car industry.
Yet, while popular at home, their presence outside the country is as tiny as their dimensions are large.
Lexus may have shifted its premium LS 460 saloon in impressive numbers in many foreign markets, among them the UAE, but South Korea's car makers have yet to replicate this success.
"When you look at Lexus, it's been 20 years," says John Zeng, the director of Asia vehicle forecasting for JD Power and Associates in Shanghai, referring to the time since Toyota launched the luxury brand.
"They have had many, many years and [invested] lots of money. Hyundai still has a long way to go."
Ssangyong's attempts to sell its old-model Chairman in Australia in the mid-2000s were little short of embarrassing, with total sales barely reaching the triple figures over three years.
Things may be looking up internationally for Korea's big luxury saloons, however, with Hyundai now pushing its Equus in the lucrative North American market after its slightly smaller sibling, the Genesis, was given a warm reception there, and achieved tens of thousands of sales in its first full year.
While the likes of Hyundai and Ssangyong have not fully established themselves in the premium segment of the global car industry, they are certainly hitting the big time in more mainstream sectors.
Last year, Hyundai and its sister company, Kia, shifted 5.75 million vehicles between them, a 24 per cent jump on the previous year and enough to place the company fifth worldwide.
This year, executives are looking for a further substantial jump, aiming to sell 6.33 million cars and SUVs.
In the US, 24 per cent sales growth made Hyundai the fastest-growing mainstream car brand, while in Europe, Hyundai and Kia together outsold Toyota, placing ninth overall as the Japanese rival suffered from recall and safety concerns.
Other South Korean car makers also did brisk business last year, achieving sales growth that was eye-catching even in an industry posting impressive gains in many markets after a sluggish 2009.
Renault Samsung more than doubled its exports last year, while the country's smallest car manufacturer, Ssangyong, nearly tripled its overseas sales.
It is just what the doctor ordered for Ssangyong, which has in recent years suffered the bitter taste of bankruptcy, just as some of its larger North American counterparts.
The rise and rise of the South Korean car makers has been helped by their strong showing in China.
A couple of months ago, Hyundai broke ground on a third plant in the world's most populous nation. That factory will increase Hyundai's capacity in China by 400,000 vehicles a year to 1 million.
"In China they're doing well. They understand the market," Mr Zeng says.
A canny strategy adopted by many car manufacturers in China is to offer several generations of the same model, meaning that there is a vehicle targeted at every segment of the country's widely spaced income brackets. Hyundai, Mr Zeng says, has been particularly adept when employing this tactic.
This means that earlier this month the company began production in China of the latest version of its Sonata saloon, while the previous generation - and the one before that, too - remain on sale.
Yet Hyundai, Mr Zeng believes, still does poorly in the large saloon sector in China, perhaps indicating there is scope for substantial further growth.
"They are trying to catch up," he says.
business@thenational.ae
Hyundai and Ssangyong set sights on big league
The two South Korean car markers do not yet have an international presence in the premium-vehicle, but they have every intention of overcoming that deficit.
Most popular today
