Hyundai Capital Services Inc., the country’s largest auto financing and leasing company, said it aimed to lead the global auto financing industry, providing drivers with ideal payment plans for automobiles.

Auto financing is Hyundai Capital’s core business, while the lender also offers different plans for credit, housing, car and corporate loans.

“Many Korean companies seek to expand their businesses to foreign countries. The real challenge is how to excel in the global competition,” Hyundai Capital said in a statement.

The company’s most powerful tool for global expansion has been its auto financing for Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, with which drivers are given exclusive benefits when buying or leasing vehicles by these brands.

“At least 80 percent of car owners in advanced car markets in the United States and Europe buy auto financing plans,” a Hyundai Capital spokesperson said.

Hyundai Capital’s aggressive overseas operations span across eight countries, including the U.S., China, India, Brazil and Russia.

Thanks to the rising demand for Hyundai and Kia cars, the company’s U.S. operation, Hyundai Capital America, saw its operating profit increase 19-fold to 370 billion won ($325 million) between 2007 and 2012. The total assets available for lending more than tripled in the 2008-2012 period, from $5.2 billion to $17.2 billion.

Hyundai Capital United Kingdom has surpassed 1 trillion won in corporate assets since it was established in July 2012, and Hyundai Capital China was launched in September 2012, targeting the country’s vast auto market.

The company’s rapid growth overseas has been attributed to its successful localization strategies: local hiring and global financial partnerships.

Hyundai Capital signed its first international partnership in 2004 with General Electric, purchasing 43.3 percent of the lender’s share. The two have exchanged know-how in financing and risk management, product development, information technology and implementation of corporate values.

In 2009, the Korean firm entered a business partnership with Santander, the largest bank in the eurozone with some 1.25 trillion euros ($1.7 trillion) in corporate assets, while preparing for the launch of Hyundai Capital Germany. It has been in partnership with Society Generale in its Russian and French corporations, and with BNP Paribas in fleet financing in Europe and Turkey.

The high rate of local hiring has been another key to the company’s solid global operations. Only nine of at least 1,100 employees at Hyundai Capital America have been dispatched from Korea, according to the company’s data.

The company also created a unified system on product information, staff identification, rank and corporate culture that applies to all Hyundai Capital operations worldwide.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)