Hyundai Australia has turned to one in every of its dad or mum firm’s seasoned executives to steer its cost again up Australia’s new-car gross sales charts.
Don Romano has been appointed Hyundai Motor Firm Australia (HMCA) President and CEO, succeeding Ted Lee within the latter position and turning into the primary native head of the Korean carmaker to not hail from the model’s house nation.
Mr Romano has additionally turn out to be an advisor for Hyundai Motor Asia & Pacific Area. Each roles additionally embody taking good care of Hyundai’s luxurious model, Genesis.
Although he’s new to Australia, Mr Romano is a Hyundai veteran, having been with the carmaker since 2014 as president and CEO in his native Canada.
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Throughout his time there, Hyundai grew to become the second-largest imported car model and the fourth most-popular carmaker general, growing its market share from 7.3 to eight.2 per cent.
This included him overseeing Genesis turning into the primary model in Canada to introduce an company gross sales mannequin – one thing which has been completed controversially in Australia by the likes of Honda and Mercedes-Benz.
Mr Romano’s appointment to the highest position at Hyundai in Australia comes amid a slide down the pecking order of auto manufacturers for the Korean carmaker domestically.
In 2021, Hyundai was Australia’s third-largest auto model, behind solely Toyota and Mazda. The next 12 months noticed it shuffled to fifth behind stablemate Kia and Mitsubishi.
Whereas it retained this spot in 2023 (after Ford vaulted to 3rd and Mitsubishi dropped to sixth), the Japanese model usurped it final 12 months, pushing Hyundai to sixth place in 2024.
Within the decade between 2014 and 2024, Hyundai’s share of the Australian market went from 9.0 to five.9 per cent.
In 2025, although Hyundai has a snug hole to MG behind it, not less than half a dozen new manufacturers – largely from China – are set to launch domestically this 12 months, additional crowding an already extremely aggressive and more and more fragmented market.
“It’s an honour to affix Hyundai and Genesis in Australia and the broader Asia Pacific area,” Mr Romano stated in a media assertion.
“With 74 competitor manufacturers – anticipated to rise to 80 throughout the subsequent 12 months – Australia is likely one of the most difficult automotive markets on earth.
“I sit up for working with the HMCA crew to advertise our world-beating merchandise and to exceed buyer expectations at each touchpoint.”
Previous to becoming a member of Hyundai, Mr Romano began his automotive profession with Nissan USA in 1985, earlier than shifting to Mazda in 2000, the place he grew to become the corporate’s North American chief advertising officer and oversaw the now-iconic ‘Zoom-Zoom’ advert marketing campaign.
Whereas retaining his CMO position, he was promoted to turn out to be Mazda’s Canadian president in 2006, a place which he held till the top of 2013.
Hyundai Australia has confirmed Mr Lee will stay the corporate’s chief government coordinator.
