Munoz Joins Hyundai as COO

Hyundai Motor Co. confirms earlier reports that it has hired former Nissan Motor Co. executive Jose Munoz to be its global chief operating officer and head of Hyundai operations in North, Central and South America.

The 53-year-old will begin his new assignment on May 1. He will be based in Fountain Valley, Calif., and report to Hyundai’s senior leaders in Seoul. Hyundai says his primary goal will be to improve the company’s performance and deliver profitable growth.

Munoz most recently was Nissan’s chief performance officer and chairman of the company’s China business. He also ran Nissan operations in North America between 2014 and 2018. He quit in January, two months after then-Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of financial wrongdoing.

Hyundai has been struggling with six years of shrinking net profit, including a 63% decline to 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) last year. The company has been undergoing a management shakeup, faced a renewed proxy fight by activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. over structure and financial operation and investigations in the U.S. about its recall of 3 million engines to fix defects that could cause a fire.