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Hyundai U.S. chief dismisses impact from mileage disputes

LOS ANGELES -- Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowiski on Wednesday dismissed claims that the carmaker’s fuel efficiency disputes would have any business impact on consumer sentiment and car sales.

“It’s something between us and the government. It didn’t affect consumers and dealers at all,” he said at a Hyundai booth during the LA Auto Show that kicked off in the U.S. city on Tuesday.

“The news hit the headlines for 24 hours, then it was gone. We are just glad to get it behind us.”

Early this month Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors agreed to pay a combined $300 million in penalties in the United States for overstating fuel economy ratings of their vehicles. It was the largest penalty slapped on a carmaker by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency.

Hyundai said the discrepancy between the EPA’s fuel economy estimates and its own had to do with differing interpretations of the test procedures.

As part of the settlement with the EPA, the two carmakers will spend about $50 million on measures to prevent future violations. They are also said to be considering a new fuel-efficiency testing facility in the United States.

The U.S. chief showed confidence in hitting an all-time high in sales this year since the carmaker entered the market 25 years ago.

“It’s been a good year,” said Zuchowiski, who took the top post on Jan. 1. “Our growth has slowed down little bit. Most of the dynamic growth in the market has been on the truck side but we are largely a car-centric brand.”

“We’ve got the new Genesis that is very, very well received, and the Sonata was launched in this summer and is picking up a lot of steam. With new cars coming, we feel good about long-term prospects,” he said.

In the first 10 months of this year, Hyundai and Kia sold a record 661,847 vehicles in the U.S. market, up 3.7 percent from the same period last year.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)

Korea Herald correspondent