Feb. 28, 2010
HYUNDAI: DRIVEN TO SUCCESS
(CBS) On President's Day, Atlantic Hyundai in West Islip, Long Island was crawling with car buyers.
"We've heard good things, we've come to see for ourselves," she said.
The new 2011 Sonata was selling so well, Dawn Webster had to put herself on a waiting list for one.
"Ahh, baby, it's a beauty," she said.
And then there's the price. Hyundai's strategy . . . sell more car for less . . . than the competition.
First-time buyer Daniel Baez chose a slightly used 2007 model.
"You can't explain what that feeling is, to have your first car and say 'This belongs to me,' you know?"
"And how does it look to you?" asked Teichner.
"Oh, it's gorgeous. I love it."
To say that Hyundai is on a roll and in a hurry is an understatement. While the rest of the auto industry was in freefall, off more than 20% last year, Hyundai's U.S. sales were up 8 percent. Hyundai blew past Ford and became the world's number 4 car maker.
"I would say, right now, Hyundai has the hot hand," said Michael Brown, vice president of Atlantic Hyundai's parent company, a dealership network that includes most of the major brands.
"Hyundai really, really raised their game," he said. "They decided that they were going to be in this marketplace and they did not just want to compete; they wanted to try and dominate."
John Krafcik is president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America.
"Around the year 2000, our chairman challenged the company to go ahead and achieve the top level of quality in the industry and to do it in five years," he told Teichner as he took her for a spin.
Hyundai has made a quantum leap in quality. Its new models are well-equipped, fuel efficient and, now, stylish.
Oh, how times have changed since the $5000 car Hyundai launched here in 1986, the Excel . . . except that it didn't.
"Well, it was a piece of junk in a competitive market like the U.S.," said James Bell.
Bell analyzes the auto industry for the car buyer's directory, Kelley Blue Book. He watched Hyundai recover from all the bad jokes.
"They basically retrenched, and then came back stronger, addressed their reliability and durability concerns with their ten-year, 100,000-mile warranty, which was a good, bold move," he said.
That got the public's attention. Hyundai set out to do it again in 2009. It saw opportunity in the recession. In commercials voiced by actor Jeff Bridges, Hyundai told its customers they could return their cars if their lost their job.
Not even 100 cars have been returned, but the offer raised Hyundai's profile. A blitz of ads (count 'em, nine) during this year's Super Bowl Sunday programming showed the transformed Hyundai to more than 100 million Americans . . . just when Toyota's woes were reaching critical mass.
Good for Hyundai, according to Dave Zuchowski, vice president of national sales for Hyundai Motor America. But he sees a cautionary tale here, too. On Wednesday Hyundai announced a voluntary recall of 1300 new Sonatas in the U.S. because of a possible door latch problem.
"Toyota grew very quickly and expanded very quickly, and Hyundai is busy doing exactly the same thing with the Toyota production model as its benchmark," Teichner said. "Do you ever worry that this could ever happen to Hyundai?"
"Absolutely," said Zuchowski. "We are all about speed. We are a very, very ambitious company, and we have huge growth plans and have for the last several years. So it has been a wakeup call for us, and I think for the rest of the industry."
But for Hyundai, no reason to dial back . . .
Krafcik gave Teichner a sneak peek at the Equus. "This is our new flagship," he said.
The super-luxurious Equus, due out sometime this fall, is intended to be the next chapter in Hyundai's success story.
"This will go against BMW, Lexus, cars that typically cost $60,000-100,000."
"Yours will not cost that much?
"We stand for something different," Krafcik said.
Should all those prestige names be worried, based on the Korean company's track record? Yes. But here's the irony . . .
"We worry about vehicles from India, vehicles from Vietnam, vehicles from China that will be coming into this market," said Zuchowski.
Another generation of upstarts . . . something Hyundai knows about.
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2011 HYUNDAI SONATA NAMED "TOP SAFETY PICK" BY IIHS
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif, 02/18/2010
Today, the all-new 2011 Hyundai Sonata joins an elite group of motor vehicles as a "Top Safety Pick" of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This award is only given to those vehicles that do a superior job protecting people in front, side, rear and rollover crashes. A car's ability to handle itself in these crashes is determined by how many "GOOD" ratings it receives in each of the IIHS tests. Additionally, the vehicle must have electronic stability control readily available as an option.
Sonata is built from the ground up with safety in mind, with a hot stamped ultra-high-strength steel body structure, advanced airbag technology and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), delivering on Hyundai's commitment to both active and passive safety technology leadership. In 2005, the Sonata was the first popular midsize sedan to standardize ESC-- once again every 2011 Sonata has lifesaving ESC as standard equipment. This is important because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that ESC results in 35 percent fewer single-vehicle crashes and 30 percent fewer single-vehicle fatalities in passenger cars.
The Sonata also features a state-of-the-art Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) including Brake Assist and Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD). Sonata features six airbags-including dual front, front seat-mounted side-impact, and front and rear side curtain airbags-along with active front-seat head restraints.
While past Hyundai models, such as the Genesis, have been named IIHS "Top Safety Picks," the standards are higher than ever for 2010, with a roof strength test added to the qualifications. According to the new guidelines, roofs must be more than double the strength of current federal requirements in order to better maintain vehicle integrity in the event of a rollover accident.
Because this roof strength test is so demanding, many of the vehicles that had previously been named "Top Safety Picks" were dropped from the list in 2010. From the 2011 Sonata's inception, Hyundai engineers carefully considered the importance of roof strength and designed the newest edition to pass this high hurdle set by the IIHS.
The other IIHS "Top Safety Pick" standards are stringent as well - the institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of 40 mph frontal offset crash tests. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures recorded on a dummy representing a 50th percentile male in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.
Side evaluations are based on performance in a crash test in which the side of a vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph. The barrier represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented dummies representing an average-sized woman, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's structural performance during the impact.
Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry - the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seat/head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph.
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HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA REPORTS FEBRUARY 2010 SALES
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., 03/02/2010
Hyundai Motor America today announced February sales of 34,004 units, up 11 percent versus February 2009 and the same amount over January of this year. This marks the fourteenth consecutive month of year-over-year retail market share gains for Hyundai and our best retail share performance since the government's "Cash-for-Clunkers" program in August 2009.
"Even though February is the shortest month of the year, the list of highlights for Hyundai is long," said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America's vice president of national sales. "Our sales gains in February were driven by strong consumer response to new products like the Tucson, which was up 102 percent, and the all-new U.S.-built Sonata, which was just launched this month and has already driven a 58 percent sales increase. For the Hyundai brand as a whole, consumer retail sales were up 21 percent while incentive spending was down more than 30 percent. We're excited about the momentum we're carrying into March."
Zuchowski explained that February was a strong month for both Hyundai and the industry especially taking into account the adverse weather conditions in much of the country.
"While all of our sales regions showed year-over-year retail increases, bad weather definitely limited car shopping in our Eastern and Central regions, which accounts for about half our overall volume," he added." "In our Southern, South Central and Western regions, we saw retail sales increases of 39, 50 and 28 percent, respectively, which bodes well for a strong spring selling season for Hyundai and the entire industry."
In addition to the early success of Sonata and Tucson, the freshened Santa Fe with a 52 percent increase, Genesis with a 39 percent increase, and Accent with a 22 percent rise, all registered significant growth over the same period one year ago.
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ELANTRA TOURING NAMED A TOP FAMILY CAR BY ABOUT.COM CARS
ABOUT.COM RECOGNIZED THE ELANTRA TOURING ON ITS LIST OF TOP TEN FAMILY CARS UNDER $20,000
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., 01/29/2010
About.com Cars recognized the Hyundai Elantra Touring on its list of Top Ten Family Cars under $20,000 for its big cargo bay, list of standard features and affordable price tag. Other cars that made the list include the Mazda5, Volkswagen Jetta, Subaru Impreza, Kia Rondo, Dodge Caliber, Scion xB, Honda Fit and Nissan Cube.
"Finding a budget-friendly car is tough enough; when you have kids, it becomes more difficult," said Aaron Gold, About.com Cars. "The innovative Elantra Touring is bigger than a hatchback, smaller than a wagon, and perfectly sized for new and growing families. The big cargo bay makes for a great vacationmobile."
When introduced in 2009, the all-new more functional variant of Hyundai's popular Elantra sedan, Elantra Touring was looked at as one of best bargains in the industry. Now the Elantra Touring is even better for 2010 with an all-new entry-level GLS model offering loads of standard equipment including air conditioning, AM/FM/XM/CD/MP3 audio system with six speakers and iPod®/USB and MP3 auxiliary input jacks, power windows, heated mirrors, power door locks, remote keyless entry with alarm, and plenty of storage compartments including a cooled glove compartment. The Elantra Touring also offers standard Electronic Stability Control (ESC), in addition to a host of other class-leading safety technologies.
"Elantra Touring is a perfect, affordable choice for families in the market for a new vehicle," said Brandon Ramirez, Elantra Touring product manager, Hyundai Motor America. "And with the new GLS model, families can get more for their dollar with a long list of standard convenience features along with Hyundai's commitment to class-leading safety features."
In the midst of very cold winter and in a struggling economic climate, Hyundai Motor America is coming to the aid of Detroit youth with a practical donation of 1,000 winter coats. Working with Focus: HOPE, a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization in Detroit, Hyundai will distribute new jackets to the children, families and program participants of the HOPE Village Initiative, enabling them to maintain productivity within the community during the inclement weather in the southeast Michigan region.
A donation ceremony will be conducted at 10:00 a.m. today at Focus: HOPE's Center for Advanced Technologies, 1400 Oakman Blvd, Detroit, MI 48238-2881. The event is just one part of Hyundai's commitment to the Detroit community and diversity audiences. Hyundai donated $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Michigan on January 11th as part of its Hope on Wheels philanthropic effort, dedicated to helping kids fight cancer, and Hyundai will be a platinum level sponsor the 14th Annual Urban Wheel Awards (UWA) gala, hosted by On Wheels Media, Inc., an annual part of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 12th.
"Hyundai is dedicated to helping build stronger communities and families through our outreach and philanthropic programs," said Zafar Brooks, director of government relations and diversity outreach, Hyundai Motor America. "Providing winter coats to children and families of the HOPE Village Initiative is just one example of Hyundai's effort to improve people's lives. We are proud to partner with the Urban Wheels Award Show in this important effort."
Modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone, the HOPE Village Initiative will be a major catalyst for change in the neighborhoods immediately around Focus: HOPE. A broad based Focus: HOPE consortium of residents, community leaders, businesses, and others is leading the effort to make this neighborhood the most desirable place to live, work, and raise a family. The HOPE Village Initiative's initial target area consists of five neighborhoods around Focus: HOPE's main campus on Oakman Boulevard in Detroit.
"Hyundai's values and those of Focus: HOPE are aligned in finding intelligent and practical solutions to fight racism, poverty and injustice," said William Jones, CEO of Focus: HOPE. "This partnership, and the simple gift of a warm jacket, will break down barriers that prevent those in need from remaining active, productive members of our community."
Focus: HOPE will soon announce a Coat Distribution Day for targeted children, families and Focus: HOPE program participants who meet income guidelines and are in need of winter coats. Coats will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, with a limit of one coat per person.
Recipients will be identified by the Focus: HOPE Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Center for Children, and newly adopted local schools; Glazer Elementary School and Paul Robeson Academy. Another targeted population will be the student/candidates enrolled in the Focus: HOPE Workforce Development Training Programs. These students require proper coats during the winter months for attendance at job interviews, business and community networking events and career coaching sessions with community leaders.
"We are thankful that Hyundai chose to donate coats to Detroit children the day of the 14th annual Urban Wheels Awards Show, and to make it a part of the program at the Sound Board Theater in the MotorCity Casino Hotel on January12, 2010,", said Randi Payton, publisher of OnWheels Media. "In addition to recognizing the contribution of minorities in the auto industry, we are committed to giving back, through scholarship and other community outreach program. Hyundai stepped up and made this coat donation possible showing that the auto industry continues to be big player in helping our communities grow." The Urban Wheels Awards Show has been a part of the Detroit automotive scene and the area's community outreach.
766 State Route 725
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