Key Motors has filed suit in Florida courts against Hyundai Motor Company – a South Korean corporation – for damages and other relief, claiming the company switched its business in Jamaica to another local company despite an exclusive dealership contract.

The American company “deliberately interfered with its long-standing exclusive distributor agreement by improperly steering business to a competing company,” Key Motors claims in a release on the matter dated Wednesday, September 28.

Its complaint was filed on June 22 in the circuit court of the 11 th Judicial Circuit for Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Hyundai Motors, which provided a summary of its own position in an August 25 request for transfer of the case to federal court, said the agreement with Key Motors was non-exclusive. It also asserts that disputes arising from the agreement should be arbitrated in Seoul, capital of South Korea, as outlined in the agreement.

Hyundai vehicles are being sold by Magna Motors in Jamaica at this time. The appointment of Magna was announced by Hyundai in September 2015, followed by investment in a new Hyundai Service Centre at 22 Balmoral Avenue in Kingston.

At the time, Hyundai said it was planning to spend US$20 million on its Jamaican business over a year.

Key Motors’ attorney, Robert Zarco, a partner with the law firm of Zarco, Einhorn, Salkowski & Brito, PA, was quoted as saying, “Over the course of this long-standing and successful relationship, Key Motors promoted Hyundai in Jamaica from relative obscurity to being one of the most successful commercial truck and consumer automobile brands across the island…then Hyundai executives, with no justification whatsoever, began putting up roadblocks in Key Motors’ path. This is not what trusted partners do to one another.”

Last Wednesday, Key Motors spokesperson Jennifer Clarin told the Jamaica Observer that a figure for damages being claimed would not be released at this time. Hyundai, headquartered in Seoul, is rated as the world’s fourth-largest automobile manufacturer by the number of vehicles sold annually in 193 countries through some 5,000 dealerships.

Hyundai Motors in its court filing stated: “Key Motors’ claims in the State Court Action rest principally on allegations that Hyundai appointed Key Motors in 1999 to be its ‘exclusive’ distributor for light-and medium-weight commercial vehicles in Jamaica, and that Hyundai breached that alleged exclusive distributorship agreement in June 2015 by appointing a second distributor of commercial vehicles in Jamaica. Indeed, all of the counts in Key Motors’ complaint are premised on the existence of a purported ‘exclusive’ distributorship agreement for commercial vehicles with Hyundai. However, as shown above (document attached), the written Distributorship Agreement between Hyundai and Key Motors expressly states that Key Motors was appointed ‘as non-exclusive distributor’ for the sale of ‘HMC Products’ … which is defined to include both passenger cars and one-ton range commercial vehicles.”

Hyundai also said that although the parties entered into the distributorship agreement in January 2013, it also applies to a “business transaction between HMC [Hyundai] and distributor [Key Motors] till the 31st of December 2012”.

Chris Hosford, Executive Director – Corporate Communications Hyundai Motor America, told the

Caribbean Business Report that the American operation was a distributorship and was not involved in the suit. He referred questions to Angela Hwang, deputy general manager — Hyundai Motor Company in Seoul, Republic of Korea. However, she is yet to respond.

Key Motors was founded in Jamaica by Desmond Panton who has been engaged in the motor industry for six decades. The company outlines in its complaint that it was appointed the exclusive Jamaican distributor for light- and medium-weight commercial vehicles, then separately appointed the exclusive Jamaican distributor for passenger vehicles.

“At the time, Hyundai had little or no brand recognition in Jamaica. Over the next several years until 2015, Key Motors developed, grew, and enhanced Hyundai’s brand through its existing distribution, a fact acknowledged by Hyundai and its executives. In time, Key Motors became the largest seller of commercial vehicles on the island,” the company stated.