From the outside, Hyundai Motor Co.‘s headquarters near Seoul doesn’t look like the home of the world’s fastest-growing carmaker. The two 21-storey glass towers, linked by an atrium, wouldn’t attract much attention in a suburb of Toronto or Vancouver.
Come here at 5:30 in the morning, however, and you start to see the Hyundai difference. Yes, that’s an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the basement and, yes, that’s the leadership of the company doing laps or working out in the adjacent gym before they start another marathon day.
And come up to the second floor-if only in your imagination, because outsiders and indeed most employees aren’t allowed here-and you’ll see another marker of Hyundai’s distinct culture: a computerized worldwide command-and-control centre that could pass for a set in a James Bond movie.
And then, if you get to the city of Ulsan, 300 kilometres to the southeast on the Sea of Japan, see how the sheer enormity of Hyundai’s highly centralized manufacturing overwhelms you. Here the company operates the world’s largest auto plant, spread over 1,233 acres, producing up to 5,600 cars a day. The place has its own port, capable of docking three 50,000-ton ships at once.
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