Chung Eui-sun became the third-generation heir to run Hyundai Motor Group.

Chung Mong-koo, son of Hyundai's founder, had run the group since 1999 and was moving back from frontline management as he got older.

His only son, Chung Eui-sun, had been groomed for years - starting in overseas units, then becoming senior vice chairman - and was increasingly visible the longer his father held the chairman's seat.

In October 2020 the group named Eui-sun, then 49, as chairman, succeeding his father, who became honorary chairman. The appointment cemented the leadership passing to the third generation under long-standing family control.

The group completed a controlled inheritance, with Euisun taking over as chairman and steering its future direction while the family retained control.

Gradual promotion over years validated Eui-sun's operational credibility.

Handing the wider group, not just one automaker, preserved the broader family holding structure.

A smooth succession avoided a contest that would have destabilised the company.

It signalled to markets that the family would keep long-horizon control.

A third-generation handover works when the family grooms the heir progressively, so the group never faces a leadership vacuum.

Chung Eui-sun led Hyundai Motor Group into a new era of electric vehicles, robotics and a broader global push, while the family retained control via its shareholding. The 2020 handover was a textbook example of a carefully staged third-generation succession.