Hyundai Motor America has appointed automotive industry veteran Robert Grafton as executive director of Dealer Development. Mr. Grafton will be responsible for managing and implementing the Hyundai dealer network strategy by optimizing retail representation and improving dealer relations. He started on September 30 and reports to Randy Parker, vice president, National Sales, Hyundai Motor America.

“Robert has a successful track record in talent identification and development, employee and dealer engagement, and driving revenue and increasing sales volume regardless of economic conditions,” said Randy Parker, vice president, National Sales, Hyundai Motor America. “Rob is an important addition to our sales team as we continue to focus on growing retail sales and improving dealer profitability. We are excited to have him join the Hyundai family.”

Mr. Grafton comes to Hyundai with over three decades of automotive industry experience. Previous to Hyundai, Rob spent more than 20 years at Nissan North America in various sales and regional leadership positions. He was most recently the director of Dealer Network Strategy at Infiniti, where he was responsible for the overall performance of the dealer network.

Mr. Grafton holds an MBA from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business & Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business & Economics from California State University, Fullerton.