TWENTY-THREE years after it started selling cars in the United States, and in the midst of an industrywide slump that has pushed some competitors to the brink of bankruptcy, the Korean automaker Hyundai spent $3 million to tell Americans watching the Super Bowl how to say its name correctly.

“It’s ‘HUN-day,’ like Sunday,” said one of its two ads during the game.

Few carmakers have the luxury to be concerned about pronunciation these days. New-vehicle sales fell 37 percent last month, the industry’s worst January since 1963.

Then again, more car shoppers are saying Hyundai’s name. The company’s market share nearly doubled last month as sales rose 14 percent, the largest year-over-year increase that any big automaker has posted in the United States since last May.

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One reason for the jump in January, after a dismal December, appears to be Hyundai’s new marketing strategy of promising to let buyers return their vehicles, at no cost in most cases and with no penalty to their credit rating, if they lose their job or income within a year.