5 Things You Didn’t know About Hyundai Motor Company!
Those familiar with the auto industry are probably already aware that Hyundai and Kia are joined at the hip. Hyundai Motor Co, owns 34% of Kia, but does that essentially make them the same brand?
That would be a definite no, as both companies take a different approach to the way in which they manage and sell their vehicles.
What they do sometimes share are platforms, powertrains, and R&D facilities, as this helps keep costs low enough to sell their vehicles at very affordable prices.
While Hyundai is a diverse company with their fingers in many different pies, the Hyundai Motor Co. is separate from all their other business entities.
The company was essentially broken into individual elements after the Asian financial collapse in 1999.
As such, the people that manage the Hyundai Motor Group have no connection to the other Hyundai interests, which means that people that make cars are not the same as those that make ships.
Since 1999, the Hyundai Motor Group has worked hard to enhance their brand, with Modern Premium being the latest concept.
As part of the “New Thinking. New Possibilities” slogan, Hyundai’s Modern premium approach means that consumer get a host of style, technology, and features in every Hyundai car, and all at affordable prices.
Many of the features that you now find in Hyundai cars are items that you would expect to come across in luxury models.
The way that cars are constructed, and the steel used, also help make Hyundai cars great to look at and fun to drive, as well as incredibly safe.
Hyundai has long ago left behind the notion that they are a bargain brand, and now have a number of vehicles that are considered to be premium: Equus, Genesis family, and the Azera.
The addition of the premium vehicles into the Hyundai lineup has led many to wonder if a premium sub-brand may soon be in the offing.
At this particular time, Hyundai has clearly stated that they have no plans to make such a move.
A major part of what got consumers thinking of Hyundai as something more than just a bargain brand was the beautiful designs of their new cars.
The name of the design language that got everyone talking about the Hyundai brand was Fluidic Sculpture.
The fluidic part of the design was pulled from elements of nature, where organic movement exists in place of hard edges. The sculpture part of the design language was all about the attention to detail in the construction of the car.
The two elements combined to create a look that was visually appealing to a large number of consumers.
The first cars to show off the new design language was the 2010 Hyundai Tucson and Sonata.
Since then, it has been implemented into all of the cars in the Hyundai lineup, and the Koreans have now moved on to the more refined, sophisticated look that is Fluidic Sculpture 2.0.
It is that new look that will appear on future Hyundai models, and which will more than likely evolve into something else in years to come.