Hyundai's U.S. chief backs exec pay caps

Hyundai Motor Co.'s acting U.S. chief said automotive executives' pay should be limited based on how much the company's employees receive.

"What if our industry was the first to exercise a reasonable multiple of average wages?" John Krafcik, the Hyundai executive, said today in a speech at the Chicago Auto Show. He didn't say what a "reasonable multiple" would be.

Krafcik's comments come as U.S. automakers General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC face restrictions on executive pay under as much as $17.4 billion in emergency loans from the federal government. U.S. President Barack Obama also has called for a cap on such compensation at banks getting future U.S. assistance.

Hyundai's U.S. sales rose 14 percent from a year earlier in January, after the Seoul-based company started a program that lets customers who lose jobs return vehicles. Sales last month for GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler plummeted at least 40 percent, and the industrywide total was the fewest since 1981.

The so-called assurance program at Hyundai has increased customer traffic, Krafcik said.