South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor is battling to rank among the world's five-largest automakers as soon as 2009. Since taking over the company five years ago, Chairman Chung Mong Koo has been obsessed with erasing Toyota's price premium. Hyundai has established a goal of producing 5.5 million vehicles annually by 2007, an increase of 25 percent from the 4 million produced today, according to the September issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine.

In this month's issue of Bloomberg Markets, senior writer John Lippert and Bloomberg News® reporter Yunsuk Lim, report that Kim Dong Jin, Hyundai's chief executive officer, realizes that volume alone will not lead to sustained profits unless Hyundai Motor can also charge premium prices.

The road to global prominence will not be easy, as Hyundai Motor must overcome South Korea's individual consumer credit card debt, inconsistent global production rates and low market share in the United States.

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