How did
Hyundai and KIA become one company? It's very simple — Hyundai Motors bought a
controlling stake in KIA Motors Corporation.
In 1998,
KIA Motors Corporation financial condition has been shaken. The company
suffered serious losses with the result that investors began to get rid of
shares of KIA. A part of the shares was bought by more successful at that time
Hyundai Motors.
So the
Hyundai Motors Corporation became the holder of 51% stake in KIA Motors. It was
a great deal for Hyundai, the company has received the entire range of KIA and
the right to supply the Korean army with vehicles. The first joint car was a
city car Visto. As a result of this transaction in 1999 was created by a group
of Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.
Since 2000
and up to this day the director of largest Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor is a
75-year-old Cheng Mong Koo, the son of Hyundai founder Chung Ju-Yung, the
manufacturer of the car brands Hyundai and Kia.
By the way,
Andre Agassi, a tennis star, had sponsored Kia. "Agassi liked to buy cars
for friends and relatives, – says the representative of the Tennis Week. – He
was obsessed with sports cars. Now he's a family man and bought a more universal car."
Then Kia
announced its permanent representative Rafael Nadal for the 2011 – the first
racket of the world won over the past year $18 million.
