Hyundai Motors was founded in 1968 and introduced their first car, the Pony, in 1974.  This was the first Korean car company, and the ninth country in the world to manufacture and produce the automobile.  Currently, Hyundai is the world’s tenth largest car manufacturer, and when combined with their sister brands, Kia and Genesis, together they form the world’s third largest car company by volume.

Fun fact: the world’s largest (by volume) automobile manufacturing plant is in Ulsan, South Korea, and can produce more than 1.5 million vehicles per year.  Another fun fact is that Hyundai produces its own steel for their vehicles, unlike most carmakers, which helps their profitability and quality control.

When Hyundai first appeared in the U.S in the 1980’s they were teased for being cheap and unreliable.  To later combat this, in 1999 the brand began offering their signature ten-year Powertrain warranty named; The Hyundai Advantage: America’s Best Warranty.  This proved to be a game changer as their sales steadily grew following this as it was, in fact, America’s best warranty.   Their quality was further documented in 2014 when J.D. Power and Associates awarded the brand with the award for placing second in their “initial quality” survey/study.

Since then, Hyundai has really focused on the European and North American markets and has developed better looking and better selling cars that buyers consider a worthy competitor to other established Asian brands like Honda and Toyota.  Also in 2014, Hyundai hired the former Vice President of engineering from BMW to focus on chassis development and handling.   Additionally, the brand has invested heavily in Genesis, its flagship luxury brand that tries it’s best to replicate the success of Japanese rivals like Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti in the 1990’s.

In recent years, Hyundai has invested heavily and is considered a leader in EV technology.  They have been so proficient that they developed their own EV marque named, the Ioniq.  This has proven to be a worthy investment for the manufacturer, as their EV’s have earned numerous awards, including EV of The Year and Car of The Year Awards.  Both the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 are filled with cutting-edge technology and are affordably priced, considering its features.  New Ioniq models are an excellent EV option and deservingly so.

Now let’s discuss a few of the popular Hyundai models.  Sedan offerings from Hyundai include the Elantra, and Sonata sedans.  SUV options include the Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe, and Palisade.  Genesis luxury sedans include the G70, G80, and G90, along with their GV60, GV70, and GV80 SUV’s.

Both the Elantra and Sonata sedans provide stylish design with a fair number of features for the money, but seemingly lack much excitement in their drive.  Their SUV’s; including both the Kona and Tucson offer tremendous value for a smaller sized SUV that is worth considering when compared with higher priced alternatives from other nameplate brands like Honda, Toyota, and Subaru.  The largest three row SUV, the Palisade, is one of the best family SUV’s currently available, and along with its cousin the Kia Telluride, remains a very popular model.

Genesis is regarded as an entry level luxury brand; packed with stylish looks and many amenities for less money when compared with competitive luxury brands from European rivals.  The biggest difficulty facing the Genesis brand is their dealer network, or lack thereof, as Genesis does not feature its own standalone store to present and maintain their vehicles.  This means owners will shop for and service their $70,000 “luxury” car alongside the owners of a $20,000 Hyundai.  This doesn’t present itself well, and continues to prevent the brand from elevating its presence in the U.S.  Imagine how successful Lexus would be today, some thirty-five years later, if Toyota had never separated their award-winning Lexus sales and service strategy and standalone dealer network.  The brand may not have lasted and reshaped the entire auto industry.

So is Hyundai reliable?  That depends.  Some models and some model years are excellent cars, whereas others are not recommended and considered to be unreliable.  Overall, Hyundai is a worthy contender in comparison with the more expensive options from Toyota and Honda.  The Genesis brand is a reliable product overall, but they have some issues and are not as perfect as the more expensive Lexus.  Like any purchase, do your research to determine if the model you are considering is worthy of your hard-earned money.

It should be noted that the ten year/100,000-mile Powertrain warranty featured as America’s Best Warranty is for new cars only and its first reported owner.  Second owners receive a five year/60,000-mile warranty that is impressive, albeit not as impressive as its original coverage.  Genesis products feature the same warranty coverage as Hyundai, which makes the Genesis product also appealing.

If you would like to learn more about good and bad options from Hyundai and Genesis, or discuss a specific model, please contact us.  We’d love to assist you!