Hyundai Motor North America announced the appointment of Erwin Raphael to lead a new cross-affiliate group as the Chief Cost Optimization Officer for Hyundai Motor North America. He will report directly to Hyundai Motor North America President and CEO Jose Munoz.
Prior to joining Hyundai, Raphael held a number of key leadership positions in vehicle development, engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, and the International Truck and Engine Company.
“I can’t think of anyone better suited to serve in this position and create a new level of integration across all of Hyundai’s organizations in North America that will result in better business and financial performance,” said Munoz. “We are excited to have Erwin lead Hyundai’s next start-up organization and we thank him for his strong leadership over the last ten years, including the most recent four years where he successfully led the launch of Genesis in the U.S. market.”
Raphael has 29 years of experience in the automotive industry, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer for Genesis Motor America where he was responsible for the strategic direction and management of all Genesis operations in the United States. Prior to the Genesis brand, Raphael was the Western Region Director and General Manager for Hyundai Motor America, overseeing operations of more than 165 Hyundai dealerships in the 12 Western-most states. Raphael has also served as the Director of Engineering and Quality at Hyundai, where he was responsible for new vehicle engineering, quality improvement of production vehicles, technical training and support, as well as warranty planning and operations.
Raphael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Chemistry from Ohio State University, where he also completed graduate studies in economics. Raphael served eight years in the United States Army, most recently in the 364th Engineers Group in the 83rd ARCOM. He currently serves as a California Army Reserve Ambassador.
HrNxt.com Newsdesk has researchers and writers with an excellent domain knowledge about the talent ecosystem, and the business environment. The team keeps a tab on the latest happenings in the ecosystem to bring most relevant news and insights for our readers. You can connect with our newsdesk at newsdesk@hrnxt.com.