Hyundai Motor Group said on July 9 it has reorganized its research and development division to better cope with growing demands for next-generation vehicles.

The reorganization is aimed at “quickly and flexibly responding to rapidly changing customer demands and securing competitiveness amid growing uncertainties in the global automobile markets,” Hyundai said in a statement.

Hyundai has streamlined five existing functions -- project management, design, electronics, vehicle performance and powertrain -- into integrated product development, system development and strengthened PM functions to quickly respond to market demands and improve profitability, the statement said.

The integrated product development team will be in charge of developing the architecture of a new vehicle and improving the model‘s performance. The system development team is responsible for developing technologies for a new model. The expanded PM team handles the overall vehicle development process, it said.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)