Hyundai Global regrets offense to people of India, condemns controversial Kashmir Day post by its Pakistan distributor, says it misused Hyundai brand
Seoul-based Hyundai Motor Company clarified that its was not associated with the distributor in Pakistan, and strongly rejected its unauthorized non-business-related social media activity.
NEW DELHI: Finally on Tuesday morning, the troubled South Korean car manufacturing giant Hyundai Motor company acted to address the concerns of the millions of Indians on the controversial ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ tweet by its Pakistan-based distributor, and said it deeply regretted offense caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity.
“As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region. Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor’s policy that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorized Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts,” said in a tweet posted on its official Twitter handle.
The company further stated, “Hyundai Motor Company has been investing in India for many decades and remains strongly committed to Indian customers. We deeply regret any offense caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity.”
The statement came after the social media users started posting boycott calls against Hyundai in India too following the controversial Twitter post about remembering the “sacrifices of our Kashmiri brothers” on Sunday by Hyundai in Pakistan, which celebrates Feb 5 as Kashmir Solidarity day to support Kashmiri separatists.
Related article: Chinese, UK Cos, Japanese car dealers also ‘celebrated’ Kashmir Day in Pakistan; Why Hyundai singled out?
However, some of the companies from China, and the UK, as well as Japanese car dealers and distributors also committed a similar blunder in Pakistan but they escaped the fury of Indian social media users.
Hyundai Motor Company on Tuesday stated in its tweet, “Once the situation was brought to our attention, we made the distributor acutely aware of the inappropriateness of the action. We have since taken measures to ensure the distributor, which misused the Hyundai brand identity, has removed the social media posts and we have put in place processes to prevent a future recurrence.”
The company clarified, “Our subsidiary, Hyundai Motor India, is not associated with the distributor in Pakistan, and we strongly reject the distributor’s unauthorized non-business related social media activity.”
