Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chair Chang Jae-hoon on Tuesday received South Korea’s highest industrial honor for his contributions to the automotive industry, marking the first time in 19 years that the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit was awarded in the automobile sector.
The carmaker said Chang received the award at the 23rd Automobile Day ceremony held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul. The event, jointly hosted by the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association and the Korea Auto Industries Coop. Association, was attended by more than 300 government officials and industry representatives, including Vice Industry Minister Moon Shin-hak.
The Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit is the highest class among the government’s five-tier industrial merit awards given to business leaders who have made exceptional contributions to national industrial development. The last time the award was presented to a figure in the automotive industry was in 2007.
Hyundai Motor Group said Chang was recognized for leading the transition toward future mobility through large-scale domestic investments and efforts to secure core technologies, while contributing to regional economic revitalization and the creation of new growth engines for the country.
"It has become a more important moment for automobiles to play a role as a platform industry going forward," Chang told reporters after the ceremony. "In that sense, I believe this Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit, awarded for the first time in nearly 20 years, belongs to the entire automotive industry."
Chang stressed that connectivity across its core businesses is critical, emphasizing how autonomous driving, robotics and artificial intelligence must work in synergy, with platform scalability, speed and scale serving as the group's top priorities.
"That is why the domestic and US investment plans we previously announced require not only a high level of sophistication, but also swift execution at the right time," he said, adding the company will continue to executive them accordingly.
Asked about growing competition from Chinese EV makers, Chang acknowledged their strong cost competitiveness.
"I believe Chinese vehicles are significantly ahead in terms of cost competitiveness. Unless we improve all aspects of safety quality, customer service and customer experience, competition will not be easy," he said. "I hope this kind of competition becomes an opportunity for us to take another step forward."
This year’s Automobile Day was held under the theme to commemorate 50 years of automobile exports, celebrating the country’s cumulative vehicle exports of 76 million units as of February 2026. South Korea first recorded automobile exports in June 1976, when six Pony vehicles were shipped to Ecuador by Hyundai Motor.
By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)
