Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo, in his trip to Europe this week, on Tuesday urged local employees to prepare for an imminent recovery of car sales in the region.

“Now, when the European car market shows some signs of recovery, we should strengthen our brand awareness by promptly offering vehicles that meet local tastes,” said the Hyundai chief.

In the process, Chung called to further elevate brand awareness of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, among other things.

“Despite our increased market share in the region, our still-low brand awareness is not fully supporting the recent sales momentum,” he said.

The chairman left for Europe on Monday, following a previous visit in March when the financial crisis deepened the decade-long recession in the market there.

During his four-day trip, he was scheduled to visit the carmaker’s Europe factories and dealerships in Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany.

Every time the group faces an internal or outside crisis, Chung always calls for preemptive actions, company officials said.

According to the Hyundai-affiliated Korea Automotive Research Institute, the prolonged market recession in Europe is expected to hit bottom this year and see a full-fledged turnaround starting from 2015.

Hyundai and Kia, which have steadily elevated their market shares in the region, pledged to capitalize on the recent positive market signs for them to further expand their presence there.

Last year, when European car sales decreased 7.8 percent to 12.52 million vehicles from a year before, Hyundai-Kia posted an 11.6 percent growth selling a combined 769,706 cars in the region.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)