Hyundai: he who dies with the most vehicles equipped with electronic stability control wins
Hyundai put out a press release yesterday touting the following headline:
"Hyundai Puts More Vehicles With Standard Electronic Stability on the Road Than Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche or Volvo"
It is interesting to note that Hyundai sells more cars than some of the other companies mentioned, but considering this week's news that Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is the new black of safety components, this news is some strong stuff. The company says it will sell 350,000 units equipped standard with ESC, which is more than the aforementioned automakers expect to produce this year.
Hyundai's angle is one that promotes safety and ESC as something affordable for everyone; a commitment that is shown by the 70 percent of Hyundai's lineup leaving the factory with the technology. The vehicles incorporating the technology as standard equipment include the Sonata, Tucson, Santa Fe, Entourage, and
Azera, all of which start between $18,000 and $25,000.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ryan 4:15PM (6/16/2006)
My benz has it standard, and oh its not a piece of crap like hyundai Opps! did I just say that out loud?
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Paul 4:22PM (6/16/2006)
hyundai is doing some impressive things... though generally still viewed as crap (it will never be as good as your benz, but you could also buy two or three of them and still have cash left over) they are a really good company with a pretty decent product. i wouldnt buy one, but i am impressed by them.
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PJ 4:32PM (6/16/2006)
Right, but... somehow, I don't think that people shopping Hyundai have the option of traipsing down to their Mercedes retailer and putting $10,000 down on an E-Class.
What I personally find a little ironic about this story is that an intuitive, well-tuned chassis arguably pays more dividends in on-limit control than adding ESC to a mediocre chassis. I know, that's not so much an option on a car in the middle of its production cycle. I've just found that Hyundais' chassis tend to feel somewhat cruder than many of their rivals' (say, the Elantra's versus the Civic's or Mazda 3's).
I'd certainly rather find myself in a tricky hairpin in a 3-Series with the DSC off than a Sonata with standard ESC (an unrealistic comparison, I know). Anyway, I do agree that ESC is a worthy safety feature--and that safety-oriented acronyms make better ad copy than "trust us, we really, really did a good job on those strut calibrations."
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Ben 4:54PM (6/16/2006)
They are comparing themselves to the wrong brand.
They should be going after Bentley, Bugatti, Rolls Royce etc ..
serious .. wtf are they doing. They are not in league with BMW, Benz, Porsche, hell they are not even on par with Lexus or Acura. wtf are they trying to do.
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PassingAlong 5:04PM (6/16/2006)
'oh its not a piece of crap like hyundai Opps!'
THREE problems with this statement...both indicating major ignorance:
1. You fail to recognize that Hyundais are some of the best built cars now....DRIVE ONE AND YOU'LL SEE. If you saw the Modern Marvels program the other night they noted that Hyundai's improved quality and reliability is due to their world-class leading automated facilities where the Sonata and Sante Fe are built. In fact, the 10th place finish by this plant is the best EVER of a new plant. Daimlers new US plant finished 73rd the same year. Who is building crap?
2. A Hyundai is far more reliable than your Trickery-laden, over-priced, presige-oriented, shallow-population buying Germanic auto.
3. You spelled oops (Opps?) wrong, IDIOT (fucktard)!
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Ryan 5:14PM (6/16/2006)
"serious .. wtf are they doing. They are not in league with BMW, Benz, Porsche, hell they are not even on par with Lexus or Acura. wtf are they trying to do."
I personally will guarantee the following:
1.) Taka a BMW, BENZ,Porsche line them all in a straight line with the hyundai in the very back of the line, drive for 100k miles. The hyundai will most likly be the last man standing (aka, the front of the line)
Didn't you guys ever hear "ya gotta shoot for the stars, then come down from there"
In other words Hyundai comparing themselves to BMW, etc *might* and probably will get people to think of them AT LEAST as good as say a Toyota.
AND, what Hyundai said:
IT's A FACT.
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Fabulo 5:29PM (6/16/2006)
My personal experience does not reflect the cheerful defense of the Korean brand I see in these comments. Your mileage may vary. It's still a fact that Hyunday is one of the least expesive (i.e. cheap) and I know all the arguments of how their quality improved and 10 year warranty and what not.
It's hard to shed the reputation of being complete junk (I still believe those are junk)
Now for the ESC spin, Let's count the number of death per cars on the road per year or something of this kind. Making things comparable is hard.
Clearly, McDonalds sold more beef than Ruth's Chris, this is why Hyunday puts more cars on the road than Volvo or Porsche or Lexus.
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Ryan 5:37PM (6/16/2006)
"It's hard to shed the reputation of being complete junk (I still believe those are junk)"
TOYOTA did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Brendon 6:10PM (6/16/2006)
Ok, first off, i'll say that Hyundai has come a long way in the last 10 years, but they got a ways to to catch up with the japanese and Europeans. Their engine's don't get near the power and fuel economy of the Japs and Euros. As for the ESC, its a good feature, but it doesn't make them better the Eurocars. They still gotta catch up on Comfort, style and brand image. As for now, Hyundai and Kia will still be known as crap brands with an great price and warrenty.
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Schira 6:14PM (6/16/2006)
quote " 8. "It's hard to shed the reputation of being complete junk (I still believe those are junk)"
I think the same about GM cars .... I have a lot of colleagues too who says they will never buy a GM car again ...
Yea, now tell me that I have a perception problem.
Quote "4. They are comparing themselves to the wrong brand."
Dare someone else make that statement that Hyundai did?
http://www.tucsondrivers.com/
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Ryan 6:36PM (6/16/2006)
"its a good feature, but it doesn't make them better the Eurocars."
What makes a car better than a Euro Car? If your the type of person that judges stricly on it being reliable, then Hyundai is ALREADY there!!!
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Ryan 6:41PM (6/16/2006)
It's funny with the general public.
I purchased a 2002 Hyundai Elantra (my first brand new car, then traded in for a 04 Mazda 3)
But people used to say, is that your car how is it?! I got that ALL the time.
Then you have the people in the general public go "A hyundai?, yuck" then I would say, why do you say "yuck" the fact of the matter is it has been so long since Hyundai made gross products nobody can really remember why they were shitty.
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David 6:51PM (6/16/2006)
Anyone can see that there's a big difference between Hyundai's mass production and the more expensive, lower production European brands. Hyundai isn't proving much by boasting their large sales numbers. The European brands (for the most part) sell 100% of their cars with electronic stability of some sort, whereas Hyundai are turning out a lot of cars with around a 70% take rate for the technology. I assume their aim is to get the budget-minded consumer to see that safety is no longer reserved for the wealthy, but their comparison based on production numbers alone is kind of fishy. It should only matter to a consumer that the ONE car they purchase has the technology, nevermind what other Hyundia or Euro brand buyers are driving.
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Ryan 6:55PM (6/16/2006)
"Anyone can see that there's a big difference between Hyundai's mass production and the more expensive, lower production European brands."
It's scary how much the rear ends of BMW's look like KIA RIO's
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D. Winston 7:35PM (6/16/2006)
WHO CARES. SHUT UP AND DRIVE. WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU DRIVE. (EURO, DOMESTIC, OR HYUNDAI)BOTTOM LINE: I KNOW PEOPLE WHO CAN AFFORD A BENZ THAT BUY HYUNDAIS, AND PEOPLE THAT CAN'T AFFORD A BENZ LEASE OR BUY A BENZ, ITS A MATTER OF PREFERENCE. IF YOU ARE A SMART BUYER, AND CAN GET THE SAME THING IN A CHEAPER PACKAGE, THEN DO SO.
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tekdemon 7:53PM (6/16/2006)
Hyundai has improved but the people here proclaiming that their cars are "TEH BESTEST IN THE WORLLDDD!" are seriously on something.
Notice how hyundai's claim doesn't include oh say, the car companies that are bigger than them?
Also keep in mind that not all ESCs are created equal, just like not all ABS systems are created equal, not all airbag systems are created equal, etc.
And as far as the person who said the Hyundai would survive the best in a 100K drive, pretty much all those cars could easily handle 100K, and BMW and Porsche are both very reliable brands so I don't know what you're going on about.
Now, if you had said Volkswagen, maybe you'd be right hahaha.
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Tone 8:47PM (6/16/2006)
"And as far as the person who said the Hyundai would survive the best in a 100K drive, pretty much all those cars could easily handle 100K, and BMW and Porsche are both very reliable brands so."
Dude what are you on, they are shitty CR does not recommend a sigle one with the exception of the BMW Jetta (3-series)
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CH 9:28PM (6/16/2006)
Tone, CR doesn't recommend a vehicle if it's reliability is below average. Don't be fooled into thinking that means the vehicle is unreliable. The average number of problems is so small, that it takes years for most of the below-average vehicles to experience one additional problem per vehicle.
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Brian W 10:27PM (6/16/2006)
Let see, all their autos have just been redone. So the reason they have more ESC is because they are new and most are based on the same platform.
We laughed at work when we saw Modern Marvels about Hyundai. "We even encourage workers to stop the line for quality." HaHa That's bullshit! They say that on TV but in real life production is everything. Every 50 seconds of down time is a car that didn't get built. They got a new boss at that plant because it wasn't reaching it's targets.
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Brian 4:42AM (6/17/2006)
Why is Hyundai the fastest growing automaker worldwide?
Why are they growing so much in Europe and emerging markets where no one know about the Excel.
People buy good cars. Word get around.
Hyundai is far from junk. And the reason they are the first to introduce ESC standard on most of their cars is to rid themselves of the biased, unwarrented reputation that you guys unjustly spew in these comments . I swear, Hyundai is going to have to win every award in the book, beat the competition at every level and master perfection before biased people like might finally give them the respect they deserve.
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