"Rags to Riches: The Inspiring Tale of How a Humble Beginnings Led to the Creation of Hyundai"

How A Poor Boy Created Hyundai

How A Poor Boy Created Hyundai...

thirty years ago Hyundai was seen as 

a small Korean company that made cheap ugly and unreliable Vehicles people even joked about the brand saying you could double A Hyundai's value if you filled it up with gas but nowadays they are

among the best quality vehicles on the market outperforming giants like Ford Hondo and General Motors to become the third largest producer of cars on the global market but what's fascinating about this is the man who started it all

a farm boy who only wanted to escape from poverty left home as a teenager and embarked on a journey full of failures misfortunes and embarrassments despite the adversity he went on to create the biggest company in South Korea taken by

storm not only the automobile industry but also construction shipbuilding and so much more turning himself into the

the richest man in South Korea this is

 the rags to riches story of Hyundai and The Man Behind It Chung Joo Young Escaping From Poverty

Chung Joo Young was born in 1915 in 

a small village from Tongkong a place now located in North Korea at the time Korea was under harsh colonial rule from the Japanese empire and Chung was born into a very poor family due to the terrible

economy and the restrictive environment they lived in while his family worked long hours on the farm just so they could afford to eat Chung dreamed of becoming a school teacher but as the oldest of seven children he had no choice but to

drop out of school at age 14 and work alongside his father from dawn to dusk he planted and harvested rice by hand raised the animals and traveled from town to town selling firewood but no

matter how hard the family worked they barely had enough food to eat and one bad Harvest would be enough to leave the

family starving for months will I always be a farmer and never straighten my

crooked back Chung himself a farmer who will never be full for even a day of life like this to suffer like my toiling Father is this all there is such

thoughts haunted the young boy for years who became tired and frustrated by the poverty he and his family had to endure until eventually, he had had enough at

At the age of 16, he and a friend escaped

their home Village and walked long miles through the most dangerous parts of the country until eventually arriving at the city of Kawa is part of today's North Korea there they found jobs as

construction workers and although they were getting paid very little Chung was happy he found it much better than the farm life and was amused by the fact that he could earn his own money but

unfortunately, it didn't last for long only two months after his Escape his father found his whereabouts and brought him back to the Village but by then it was too late Chung had gotten a taste of

the life he wanted and there was no way he was settling for Less during the next two years he would escape two more times to the city of Seoul now the capital of South Korea but after each of these escapes he was caught again and brought

back by his father you better not forget that you are just a farm boy who only finished sixth-grade father said, I hear his soul is crawling with unemployed graduates but who are you a nobody and a nobody like you isn't going

to make it yet these words were not enough to stop the young boy who after watching the bad Harvest strike the village and leave its people with no food prepared for the winter decided to escape for the fourth and final time and this is where the realtor begins foreign

The Journey

he took whatever job came his way working as a laborer construction worker and later as a handyman at a starch syrup Factory it wasn't until the next a year that he finally found better work

at the Bokong rice store where he was employed as a delivery man transporting rice on his bicycle but unlike his previous jobs this one was stable and brought home lunch and dinner despite starting from the bottom the owners were

so impressed with Chung's work ethic that he quickly rose through the ranks until eventually earning the position of store accountant after only six months of employment however over the next few years the owner struggled with health issues and soon realized he could no longer run the shop so he decided to sell the business to his Young

Apprentice Chung Joo Young Who at 22

years old took over the Booking rice store here he quickly changed the business's name to the Kyu GLE rice store and developed a new customer base thanks to its low prices he did such impressive work that the business

profits climbed higher every year and was quickly becoming one of the best rice shops in town until disaster struck the Japanese colonial government established a rice rationing system in

Korea to divert rice to Japan

and its Army due to its war with China as a result many Korean business owners were forced out of trading rice including Chung who had to close his business and with nothing else to fall back on had to return to his home The village however he never lost his vision for a better future and decided to

return to the city in 1940 and try his luck with a new business venture he drew out a list of businesses he could operate that the Japanese government hadn't imposed restrictions on the best one he found was the car repair business

and thus decided to run with that he took out a bank loan and bought a repair shop to open his next business the Edo

Service Garage At the time of the demand for auto repair, businesses were very high in the city but the problem was there weren't many shops around and the few that existed usually overcharged their

clients since Chung knew nothing about

out cars, he hired a talented mechanic to do the work and set his business apart by offering the cheapest prices in the city while taking good care of his customers this simple approach kick-started a thriving business and

Chung had to bring in more mechanics to

keep up with the orders but unfortunately, disaster would strike again just a few months later a fire broke out and burnt down the entire shop along with their equipment and their customers

Vehicles dragged Chung into a

a serious issue as he now had massive debts to pay and nothing to show for them in his eyes there is only one way out he took out yet another loan and opened a new repair shop in a busier

part of the city there he quickly gained a new and bigger customer base thanks to their low prices and over the next two years the Ado Service Garage grew to

become one of the best auto repair spots in Seoul and with over 70 people working

for him, Chung was now doing better than ever but as he planned to expand his business even bigger another event was taking place that would change the fate

of his company, Japan was in the midst of the second world war, and unfortunately for Chung the Japanese occupational

The government took over his Service Garage

in 1942 and merged it with a steel plant as part of their War efforts at the same time tensions in Soul were Rising because of the war and Chung still reeling from the loss of his business

had no other choice but to return to his home village however despite losing the shop he had managed to save up 50 000 won and was looking forward to his next business

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The Birth of Hyundai

when the second world war came to an end Korea gained its independence from the Japanese empire and with no more government restrictions Chung reopened his Service Garage in 1946 he called it the Hyundai auto service center which in

English the word Hyundai means modern they began by offering their services to Japanese jalopies and U.S military trucks and by the end of that year the the business had grown so much that Chung's

employee network nearly tripled from 30 to 80 people he had once again put together a successful business and could finally, operate without any disruptions from the Japanese government by then he had brought his family together to the newly established country of South Korea

where they all took part in the business alongside him however while Chung

submitted contracts for 300 or 400 000

won for his auto repair services he later witnessed a construction company receiving up to 10 million won per contract he was amazed that someone could earn that much money from a single project and as a result he founded the

Hyundai construction company in 1947.

the company initially struggled barely managing to get by building the U.S army

quarters auxiliary sites and repairing buildings but by 1950 the Hyundai company was finally making some great progress then, please

North Korea launched a massive attack on

the South forcing Chung to abandon his business and evacuate to Busan with no money in his pockets he and his brother wandered from place to place working for various Publishers and delivering newspapers to their citizens in the front line troops spreading the news

that U.N forces were on their way to

rescue them was their only hope as people were more terrified than ever to fall under the North Korean regime and the Communist Party one day Chung stumbled across a help wanted sign by the U.S army at the time

the U.S forces required local

experts in the construction business so Chung was eager to offer his help he began building Barracks for thousands of American soldiers during the war and soon developed a great partnership with the US Army he later brought his team to complete even bigger projects such as

remodeling a U.S quarter in South Korea

and building lodging for the U.S president during their visits this proved to be a master stroke Because by the time the Korean War ended Chung's company was in the first position to handle

nearly every order from the U.S army but at the same time the South Korean economy was struggling to leave it as one of the poorest countries in Asia even below North Korea in response to this

the U.S government provided billions of dollars to the South Korean government to rebuild their infrastructure and help boost their economy Chung saw the opportunity and managed to win a contract for the country's biggest

project at the time the restoration of the Gorton's bridge in 1953 however this promising project did not go as he had expected the reality was Chung was still

naive and lacked the necessary equipment safety regulations and experience for such a massive task this led to slow progress death accidents at the job site and Rising inflation eating into his fixed payment hung soon ran out of money and was forced to take on more

loans while his brothers sold their houses to help pay their workers despite this they never stopped

production until the bridge was completed but by then the family was burdened with huge debts and lost money on the project and were humiliated by their competitors what would a guy who only finished the sixth grade know about inflation a dummy like him had it coming he doesn't even know that long-term construction requires an installment

contract after seeing his brother's

destitute with no place to rent and living in small Shacks Chung just young felt deeply guilty for his family's struggles and financial hardship he vowed right there and then that he would

not only build a successful business for them but create the biggest company in the entire country I had no intention whatsoever of abandoning my business I had failed because I was lacking and in

need of more experience however I brushed it off and simply thought of it as an expensive lesson although the Gorton's bridge was a total disaster it also became the turning point in

Hyundai's history

you see Chung's company received a high credit score from the Ministry of the Interior which allowed him to receive loans much easier and help expand his business he also learned the importance of heavy

equipment and Advanced Machinery and thanks to his partnership with the US Army he was able to buy what he needed directly from them back then this type of equipment was mostly owned by the South Korean government and private businesses were banned from importing

them overseas so this gave Chung a huge advantage over his competition with this the Hyundai company was able to make the cheapest bids and win countless restoration projects all across the country building roads Bridges dams and

buildings turning Hyundai into one of the fastest-growing companies in South

Korea but even with all the success

Chung was not satisfied with just playing domestically and soon becoming the first in his country to take his construction business to the international stage he bidded among the largest firms in the industry and

managed to rake in several billion-dollar projects such as the Jubilee Industrial Harbor in Saudi Arabia and the Arab shipbuilding and repair yard in Bahrain this led his company to go from a failing business to a rising Global

conglomerate in a matter of two short decades and his goal of building  the biggest firm in South Korea came into reality in 1960 but in hindsight, this massive growth would have never occurred if the government didn't intervene you

see Hyundai along with other family-owned Rising conglomerates received special treatment from the governments such as Financial subsidies loan guarantees and even tax breaks if needed to grow and diversify quickly these changes as they later

became known were the main forces behind

South Korea's growing economy benefited them immensely by helping the country rise into a highly developed Nation but of course, it has to be acknowledged that this special treatment was not just awarded for no reason Chung just young simply worked

incredibly hard and his Relentless growth was exactly what the government needed at the time his Do or Die Spirit got Hyundai involved in many other industries including shipbuilding store chains electronics and financial

services but there was one particular industry that Chung never lost sight of the same business he once created but lost during the war and that was none other than the automobile industry

Hyundai Motors foreign the Korean government established

 a new policy that no foreign automakers would operate in their country unless, through joint ventures with local businesses, this plan was to improve their knowledge and production line for their car the industry as the country largely lacked

the Technologies and resources to do so on their own with this Chung decided to re-enter the automobile industry and founded the Hyundai Motor Company in 1967. He struck a deal with the Ford Motor Company to license the use of

their vehicles and established a large Plant in Olsen for the assembly line in under six months the Hyundai Factory was completed and the first car rolled out from the factory floor the Hyundai Corrina 

the end product was no different than the Ford Corrina a car built for the masses in Great Britain while the model was a huge success there the

Corrina turned out to be the complete opposite in South Korea, you see these cars were built to drive on asphalt but the poor road conditions in the country made the vehicle undrivable in most areas, as a result, the Corrina became a

laughingstock in Korea and people began

to perceive them as useless cars customers stopped making their payments and the demand for refunds spread all over the country at the same time the Hyundai Factory was hit with severe flooding in September of 1969 with much of their equipment and car parts

submerged under four feet of rainwater while assembled Corrina's floated around inside the factory to make it worse rumors spread that Hyundai was now selling waterlogged Vehicles which further affected their sales and reputation pushing the company to the

brink of bankruptcy but even with all these misfortunes whenever people suggested to Chung that it was time to close the business he'd snap back saying

I'd never take down a single Hyundai

Sign with my own hands even if a business is struggling and everything seems hopeless I will make it work if I start something I'm going to see it through with this attitude Chung simply returned to work and kept producing

their vehicles for the next few years as time went by and the road conditions improved significantly the Corrina  eventually gained higher sales in the South

Korea soon after another Ford Model was in the works for Hyundai and the USA

the factory began to expand with more room for production but then things began to sour you see the American Car giant Ford refused to let Hyundai distribute the

Cortina overseas arguing that their partnership was not made for the global

market but in the Korean market only Ford also refused to compromise when it came to sharing the profits equally since

Hyundai was not the one sharing Corrina's line structure or technologies

in the first place in Chung's eyes what Ford really wanted was to take over the

Korean market themselves while using Hyundai as a subcontractor for cheap labor in his book Chung is quoted saying there was no way I was about to let that happen furious with Ford he terminated their contract in 1974 and decided to

build a brand new car only this time on his own terms and playing by his own rules while he didn't know it at the time Chung was about to change the whole

Korean car industry into what we know it today

The New Era For Korean Cars

after terminating the contract with Ford Chung immediately partnered with

Mitsubishi for the use of their engines and rear axles and hired a group of talented European Engineers to help design their next vehicle the Hyundai Pony

suitable for unpaved roads and with a price tag of just fifty-nine hundred dollars the Pony became an instant hit in South Korea becoming the first mass-produced car in the country it performed so well in their Market that

four out of every 10 cars sold in South Korea were ponies with great confidence Chung and his team began to expand their new model to the worldwide Marketplace where they sold fairly well and even

became a best-selling vehicle in Canada but despite the success of the Pony couldn't be launched in the biggest car market yet the USA due to its failure to meet the federal emissions standards, however, Chung wasn't going to let that

stop him in 1985 they released a new model to the public the Hyundai Excel which successfully passed the emissions standards allowing Hyundai to finally break into the American car market at just

4995 dollars it cost half the average price of a new car at the time and during its very first year, Hyundai sold

a staggering 168000 excels in the U.S market alone and 

 a million more worldwide it was truly the major breakthrough for the Korean car industry and Hyundai had finally positioned itself as a major car brand but not exactly in the way Chung had envisioned you see the problem was that

they still lagged behind in terms of quality and reliability and the public only saw them as cheap Korean cars with barely any features along with the cars needing frequent repairs and earning VA a poor reputation for their brand their

sales were also plummeting and Hyundai Soon became the butt of jokes in America At one point people mocked their name saying it stands for the hope you understand nothing is drivable and inexpensive to

turn itself around Chung and his team worked tirelessly to bring the brightest talent and develop their own engines and

car parts by the 1990s a series of new

models followed suit such as the Hyundai Accent the Sonata and the Elantra and while these models initially struggled to take off they eventually gained higher sales as they started catching up with the latest features Hyundai went on to acquire Kia Motors in 1998 and this

joint venture marked the beginning of a new era for Korean cars together they invested heavily in the quality design and Manufacturing process of their vehicles and by 2004 they achieved The Impossible coming in tied with Honda as the second-best initial brand quality in

the industry is only behind Toyota but even despite that achievement Hyundai still struggled to shed their

unfortunate past reputation in the public eye however Hyundai still had one more trick up their sleeve to prove their quality the company announced their 10-year hundred thousand mile warranty on all their vehicles sold in the U.S and thanks to this sales of Hyundai vehicles have risen to make them one of the top car brands of the 21st Century

Chung dedicated his later years to philanthropy running for presidential office and even attempting to rejoin the Korean countries until meeting his end in 2001 leaving the control of his company to his sons it is failures rather than successes that teach us invaluable lessons it is

not necessary to remember one's success that should be remembered by others instead, rather we should remember our losses and failures because those who forget their failures will fail again and again currently the Hyundai Motor Group just surpassed General Motors to become the

the third largest automaker in the World Behind Toyota and the Volkswagen group and they are among the top leaders in electric vehicles

this is the story of how a poor boy living in the mountains of Korea built one of the most powerful companies in the world Hyundai 

History