It was on this day in 1967 that the mighty Hyundai Motor Corporation was founded in Seoul, South Korea, by a one-time humble rice merchant, Chung Ju-yung.

After World War II, Ju-yung founded a new civil engineering company, Hyundai, to win contracts for rebuilding much of South Korea’s damaged infrastructure before diversifying into shipbuilding and eventually car production.

The company’s first mass-produced model was the Cortina which was released in cooperation with Ford but Hyundai really boomed after developing its own cars in the 1970’s and hitting the major export markets in the 1980’s.

Today the company employs over 75,000 people worldwide and sells vehicles in 193 countries through over 5000 dealerships, making it the third largest vehicle manufacturer on earth.

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