Hyundai Motor Company CEO José Muñoz named 2025 MotorTrend Person of the Year
MotorTrend has just named Hyundai Motor Company President and CEO José Muñoz as its 2025 Person of the Year and the highest rank of its 50 person 2025 MotorTrend Power List.
According to MotorTrend; “José Muñoz steps into the history books as the first non-Korean to lead the conglomerate that includes Hyundai and Genesis… (and) has been a driving force, leading Hyundai through years of record growth in North American sales, market share, revenue, and profitability.
“Muñoz has more than earned his top spot on our Power List, and he shows no signs of slowing down or making major missteps.” The 2025 MotorTrend Power List also includes Euisun Chung, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair (who was named Person of the Year in 2023); SangYup Lee, Hyundai Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design; Luc Donckerwolke, Hyundai Motor Group Chief Creative Officer; Claudia Marquez, Hyundai Motor America Chief Operating Officer and Karim Habib, Head of KIA Global Design and the KIA Design Centre.
“I am extremely honoured to be recognized among such a talented group of industry leaders,” said Muñoz.
“This recognition is due to the vision and support of our Executive Chair, the hard-working women and men of Hyundai, our outstanding dealer partners, our customers and so many others who work tirelessly for Hyundai and Genesis in this competitive and dynamic industry. It’s a great time to be with Hyundai!” MotorTrend continued: “The Hyundai brand, known initially for value and affordability, has matured and is now associated with quality, good value, and enough cachet and gravitas to warrant adding the Genesis luxury division.
“We’ve been so impressed with the group’s contemporary offerings in recent times that we named the Genesis GV70 the 2022 MotorTrend SUV of the Year and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 our 2023 SUV of the Year.” Under Muñoz’s leadership, Hyundai has achieved consecutive record results which helped its parent Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) grow to be the third largest automaker in the world.
He is a strong advocate for investing in new technologies and partnerships to make transportation safer and more sustainable and has a long track record of successfully navigating complex issues in the dynamic automotive industry. He credits the Company’s success to the leadership of its Executive Chair Euisun Chung whose “Progress for Humanity” vision includes leveraging smart cities, electrification, advanced air mobility, autonomous driving, robots, artificial intelligence and a hydrogen economy to improve the safety, sustainability and convenience of how people and goods move.
Muñoz has helped lead a product renaissance for the Hyundai and Genesis brands as evidenced by increasing sales, market share, dealer profitability and industry accolades. He has also led massive capacity expansion in the U.S. and globally, including a $12.6 billion investment in a new HMG assembly plant and two battery joint ventures in Georgia, as well as capital investments in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, the company’s Safety Test and Investigation Lab in Michigan and its North American headquarters in California.
As a group, HMG has invested $20.5 billion in the U.S., creating directly and indirectly more than 570,000 American jobs since entering the U.S. Muñoz joined Hyundai Motor Company in 2019 as president and global chief operating officer and president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America, where he oversaw consecutive record sales.
In 2022, Muñoz was appointed to the Hyundai Motor Company Board of Directors with expanded responsibilities to include Europe, India, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. He also led global sales, service and product planning as part of the Global Operations Division.
Following a brief career in nuclear engineering and aerospace, he has worked for many automakers in roles of increasing responsibility including, Daewoo, Toyota and Nissan where he served as chief performance officer and chair of China and North America. Muñoz is a native of Spain and earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Polytechnic University of Madrid and has an MBA from Instituto de Empresa (IE) Business School in Madrid.
He has also completed executive management programs from Cranfield School of Management in the U.K. and INSEAD Business School in France. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French. Hyundai Motor America offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles, while supporting Hyundai Motor Company’s Progress for Humanity vision.
Hyundai has significant operations in the U.S., including its North American headquarters in California, the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama assembly plant, the all-new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia, and several cutting-edge R&D facilities. These operations, combined with those of Hyundai’s 835 independent dealers, contribute $20.1 billion annually and 190,000 jobs to the U.S. economy, according to a recent economic impact report.