Picture from Hyundai USA

In the late 2000s Hyundai made a choice. They decided to make good cars that people actually wanted to buy. Instead of making discounted Hondas that were styled by a very boring man, Hyundai unveiled the new Sonata, a car that was styled to not only stand out but bring the brand into the forefront of the car shoppers mind. After making a successful claim to the mid sized sedan market Hyundai turned their attention to the high volume compact car segment with the Elantra. After building a brand over night, Hyundai decided it wanted to build a Hot Hatchback and a Rear Drive Sport Coupe. These are two things Hyundai had no experience with but the newfound confidence and momentum brought us the Veloster Turbo and the Genesis coupe


It’s hard to be the new kid on the block, especially when you have a shaky history.

Hyundai’s have no motorsport pedigree, no established enthusiasts community, and no history of building sporty cars. Unlike the established gangs of GTI owners or cults of Mustang owners your left alone in the wild to fend for yourself against the hoards of established performance car communities. It’s hard to be the new kid on the block, especially when you have a shaky history. You can try to stand out by being bolder or put up better numbers but in the end, experience is the key ingredient. It’s easy to fill a car with electronics, however, driving dynamics take years to perfect, and a healthy car community takes generations to build.




Picture from Veloster.org

This is where the problem lies for Hyundai. Until recently Hyundai was barely involved in motor sport or the business of building exciting cars. Unlike established enthusiast brands, Hyundai cannot trace back performance roots or claim racing heritage-spanning decades. This is why building a car for enthusiasts are more difficult than appealing to a normal car shopper. Most car shoppers are seeking a good deal and reliable form of transportation they can trust. However, car enthusiasts are seeking something more. When you chose to enjoy something as a hobby instead of just another product preferences change. A professional chef would laugh if you claimed Cutco Knives were good enough for cooking. Instead of just cooking for survival, chef’s cook for their career, and their hobby, so they prefer something established and strong like a Wusthof Classic Chef Knife.




It takes a long time to build a brand’s reputation, especially when you appeal to a consumer’s passion.

Hyundai may not have a strong history in fun to drive cars but everyone has to start somewhere. It will take generations before Hyundai can truly compete for car enthusiast acclaim but they are taking all the right steps to achieve this goal. They have made substantial investments in motorsports around the world to refine their products. Hyundai has risked millions of dollars to bring reliable fun the drive cars to the market and for that we can all be thankful and look forward to the future of performance cars.

