Hyundai Motor Group is spending $10 billion on real estate in Seoul's splashy Gangnam district. What else could it have done with that money?
• Build 6 to 10 assembly plants: Hyundai spent $1.7 billion on its Montgomery, Ala., manufacturing complex. Kia is spending more than $1 billion on a factory in Mexico that opens in 2016.
• Redesign 20-plus products: Hyundai has said it spent 450 billion won ($432 million) to develop the redesigned 2015 Sonata and 500 billion won ($480 million) on the redesigned 2015 Genesis.
• Buy an automaker: $10 billion would go a long way toward a bid for a smaller rival such as PSA Peugeot Citroen (market cap: $10.1 billion) or Mazda ($15 billion), though there is no sign that acquisitions are on Hyundai's agenda.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo got what he wanted: a spacious corporate home in Korea's most prestigious neighborhood.
