• by Tanya Gazdik , July 31, 2024

Hyundai Motor America is restructuring its marketing department into two divisions effective Aug. 1. 

Angela Zepeda, who was previously CMO, is now leading the marketing creative division as chief creative officer where she will oversee social, creative, experiential marketing and multicultural marketing.

Sean Gilpin will assume the role of vice president, marketing performance, which will include media buying, customer communications (customer relationship management, consumer website, digital retail solutions), tier-two marketing and marketing financial management.

The marketing creative team will focus on producing and developing creative content to engage audiences across all marketing channels. The marketing performance team will take an analytical approach to reviewing the placement, volume and quantitative effectiveness of marketing strategy to drive operational excellence and better align with sales performance.

Both teams will report to Randy Parker, chief executive officer, Hyundai Motor America. 

Gilpin, who like Zepeda, came over to Hyundai from AOR Innocean and once reported to Zepeda, will retain his global responsibilities as vice president of global sales marketing for Hyundai Motor Co.

The changes are aimed at optimizing performance and addressing evolving consumer buying behavior, according to the automaker. The focus will be “data-driven marketing solutions” that “drive shopping activity.”

“We recognize that customers have a lot of options when it comes to buying a car,” Parker said in a statement. “From EVs and hybrids to technology innovations, the market is filled with noise and information that can be confusing to customers and sometimes distract from the core brand message. This restructure will allow us to build marketing programs around data and sales performance that will help propel us to the forefront of the industry.”

The moves come at a time when Hyundai has seen some slipping sales. 

Hyundai Motor America reported total June sales of 67,631 units, a 2.5% decrease compared with June 2023.

However, Hyundai set total sales records in June for Elantra HEV (+1%), Elantra N (+19%), Ioniq 5 (+17%), Santa Fe HEV (+90%), Tucson HEV (+28%) and Palisade (+57%). Hyundai's total hybrid sales were up 39% in June. 

Hyundai sold 214,719 units in Q2, for a total sales increase of 2.2% compared with Q2 2023. Hyundai set total and retail sales marks in Q2 for Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson HEV and Palisade. HEV sales for the quarter rose 42% compared to Q2 last year while pure EV total sales climbed 15%.

Hyundai Ioniq 6