Hyundai exec Jose Munoz adds oversight of Europe, global markets

Hyundai Motor global COO Jose Munoz has been given a range of additional duties, including oversight of product and sales management in Europe and other regions.

Munoz will retain his role as CEO of Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Motor America responsible for operations strategies, growth and performance in North, Central and South America. In addition to Europe, he will add oversight of Africa, India and the Middle East, the automaker said Monday.

He will also oversee Hyundai's global talent recruitment and retention in its new technology-based businesses, and will work more closely with Hyundai's venture capital firm in Silicon Valley to identify tech-focused talent in design and programming.

Munoz, 56, who joined Hyundai in 2019 from Nissan, additionally will join the company's board of management, pending the approval of Hyundai's general shareholder meeting in March 2023.

Munoz, is a native of Spain, and earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has also completed executive management programs from Cranfield School of Management in the UK and INSEAD Business School in France. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

In a 15-year career at Nissan, he rose to become chief performance officer and head of Nissan North America and Nissan China. Prior to that, he held management positions at Toyota Motor Europe.

"Jose is a definitely proven leader and we expect his expanded role will greatly enhance our global operational excellence," Hyundai Motor Co. CEO Jaehoon Chang said in a statement.

Hyundai Motor, with its Hyundai and Kia brands, has seen its market share increase in Europe in recent years, especially as electric cars become more popular. Hyundai and Kia were No. 1 and No. 2 in terms of share gainers among members of ACEA, the European automakers' association, in 2021.

Munoz has enabled Hyundai to boost its position in the critical U.S. market during the daunting period of pandemic disruption and industry-wide supply chain problems.

At the same time, Munoz will take a seat on the board of directors for Motional, the $4 billion autonomous-driving joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and the global tech supplier Aptiv.

Motional is developing an autonomous driving platform for robotaxi providers, fleet operators and car makers. It has been operating a small fleet of the driverless robotaxis in Las Vegas through the Lyft network and most recently, Via, a digital transit provider.

In 2023, the venture expects to take the robotaxi service public and use a fleet of Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric crossovers.

Hyundai also has created two new global departments to help Munoz manage product rollouts on a global scale, said a spokesperson for Hyundai Motor North America.

The first department, called Product Director Office, will determine the best markets for a new vehicle before it launches, as well as what capabilities and trims it needs in specific markets.

The second department, called Product Line Management, will determine how many vehicles will be needed for each market.