Hyundai Motor Group and Toyota, two of Asia's automotive giants, are set to hold a joint motorsport event in South Korea, marking a significant milestone in their evolving relationship and hinting at potential future collaboration. The left is Chung Eui-sun, the chairman of Hyundai Motors Group, and the right is Akio Toyoda, the chairman of Toyota. /Chosun DB

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun and Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda are set to meet later this month at a motorsport event co-hosted by the two companies in South Korea. This marks the first time that the heads of the leading car manufacturers from Korea and Japan will meet publicly. Industry insiders are interpreting this event as a symbolic acknowledgment that the two companies have now become equals.

Toyota was once considered an insurmountable competitor for Hyundai. The Korean automaker worked tirelessly to catch up to Toyota, the first company to mass-produce hybrid vehicles. When Toyota topped global sales for the first time in 2007, Hyundai was ranked sixth.

However, the situation has changed. Hyundai Motor Group quickly ascended to third place globally in 2022 and has outpaced Toyota in the electric vehicle market. As competition in the future car market intensifies, this motorsport event, a more collaborative field, could serve as an entry point for the two longtime rivals to foster cooperation.

On Oct. 8, Hyundai Motor Group and Toyota Korea announced that they will hold the “Hyundai N x Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival” on Oct. 27 at the Everland Speedway in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

This marks the first collaboration between the two companies. “Hyundai N” and “Toyota Gazoo Racing” are the names of their respective teams participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC), an international motorsport competition. The event will showcase high-performance and racing vehicles, allowing the public to experience the cars’ capabilities firsthand. Both Chung and Toyoda plan to attend and share their passion for cars with the general audience.

Both chairmen are known car enthusiasts. Toyoda has been participating in races since the early 2000s, competing under the alias “Morizo.” As recently as June, he took part in a 24-hour endurance race at Fuji Speedway in Japan. Chung, too, has been a racing fan since his twenties, enjoying gymkhana races, a type of entry-level motorsport. He is still known for taking time to drive whenever possible.

The two chairmen share another commonality—they are both grandsons of their companies’ founders and have played key roles in steering their respective firms through difficult times.

Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder Kiichiro Toyoda, became president of Toyota in 2009 amid the fallout from the global financial crisis. When he last visited Korea in early 2012, Toyota was struggling, still dealing with the aftermath of a massive recall in the U.S. and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

At that time, Toyoda remarked, “Toyota has experienced long periods when we wanted to make cars but couldn’t.” Although Toyota had fallen to third place globally in 2011, through major organizational reforms and quality improvements, the company reclaimed the top spot by the end of 2012.

Chung, the grandson of Hyundai’s founder Chung Ju-yung, entered the automotive industry’s frontline as Kia Motors’ president in 2005, leading the company out of a slump through innovative design of its automobiles.

In 2009, during the global financial crisis, Chung, then vice chairman of Hyundai Motor, introduced a bold buyback program in the U.S., promising to repurchase cars if the buyer lost their job within a year. This initiative helped propel Hyundai and Kia to fifth place globally the following year, and by 2022, the group reached third place.

As competition in future mobility markets, including electric vehicles, continues to heat up, some predict that the two chairmen’s first meeting could pave the way for deeper collaboration.

With the electric vehicle (EV) market experiencing a prolonged plateau in demand and Chinese automakers expanding their global presence, Korea and Japan’s leading automakers could become strategic allies in the evolving mobility landscape. The two companies also share a commitment to hydrogen as a key pillar of future mobility.

Toyota, while maintaining its position as the global sales leader thanks to hybrid vehicles, has been criticized for being slow in the transition to electric vehicles. Earlier this month, the company postponed the launch of its North American EV plant from next year to 2026. Hyundai, by contrast, has been recognized for its leadership, ranking second in EV sales in the U.S., one of the world’s largest auto markets.