Monthly Archives: January 2011

2012 Hyundai Veloster

The 2012 Hyundai Veloster is a unique type of car. The Hyundai Veloster comes with a third door on the right side of the car, adding more room and an unusual style to the car. The Hyundai Veloster has the smallest Hyundai engine. What makes the Hyundai Veloster stand out are all the electronic features it has, such as:

  • A standard seven-inch multi-function touch-screen display with Pandora internet radio capability,
  • Gracenote display technology with voice recognition,
  • Virtual CD downloading,
  • AVI and mpeg video playback via USB,
  • video game console connectivity with a 115-volt outlet,
  • and Bluetooth hands-free phone system with voice recognition.

The Hyundai Veloster also has Blue Link functions such as, an automatic crash notification and assistance, emergency assistance and roadside assistance. Also with Blue Link, one can lock and unlock the car doors through just a telephone number. One can also use a social networking site to tell people where the Hyundai Veloster is located.

What is really cool for parents (though not for their children) is that Blue Link can inform the car owner when the Hyundai Veloster leaves a certain area and at what time, so not only can sometime find out if their car is gone, they can know what time it was gone (which can let parents know how late their child is up), and if the person driving the car was going faster than the preset speed. Who knew that your car is able to inform you that your kid didn’t listen to you.

With all these cool features, come 2012, you know what car you need to buy (hint: it starts with the letter V).

Didn’t Your Mother Teach You Not to Steal Food Stamps

Blue Bay store owners are stealing from the starving and poor by only giving them half the value of what food stamps are worth. One wonders either how desperate or low these store owners have to be to do such things. “You can judge a society by how they treat their weak,” the philosopher, Voltaire famously quipped, and it seems that in the county of Blue Bay this is exactly what they are doing.

“Customer care” seems to be ignored when the poor and vulnerable are taken advantage of. The Liberal state of Massachusetts is one of the very few states that don’t penalize people for selling food stamps. Because local authorities don’t persecute food stamp traffickers, state officials don’t know how prevalent this theft and exploitation is.

Because there is no penalty for store owners not giving the full value of food stamps, they can steal and nothing with happen to them (well, legally anyway).

One wonders what people’s thoughts are on this. Is this type of theft bad because theft is always bad and the fact that in this case there is no retribution seems like law makers don’t care? Is not giving the full value of food stamps bad because the people who are being exploited are poor? Would the person reading this be just as fumed at this abhorrence irrespective of whom this happens too or are tears only reserved for the poor?

When reading this article, I couldn’t help thinking of Robin Hood, who I never admired. Stealing is bad, irrespective of how much and who the victim is. Stealing from the rich and giving from the poor doesn’t justify the act of theft. Feeling this way I was always a bit peeved that Robin Hood was viewed as a hero. I understand that stealing from the poor is worse since they have more to lose (ok, well of course not tangibly), but why does the result of charity justify the means of stealing? I would love to hear your responses on this. What do you think about the case and my tangent? Do you find stealing from the rich justified if it goes to the poor? Does the stealing of food stamps bother you and make you angry, while sympathetic to the poor? Would your feelings be the same if an article was written about how real estate owners are taking advantage of millionaires by giving them only half the value of their palatial home while the government sits by and does nothing to prosecute these people?

Congratulations on Monson Defeating Southwick and Belchertown Basketball Players Defeating Pioneer Christians

Gary Rome Hyundai extols Monson on beating Southwick in basketball (no offense Southwick). Sean Peyman and Zach West led the Mustangs to their fourth win in five games. Both Peyman and West scored three 3-pointers and scored 18 points each for Monson.

In other news, Belchertown (we didn’t pick the name) defeats the Pioneer Christians.  The Orioles scored an easy victory against the Eagles, with Pat Gooden scoring 19 points for the Orioles.

Ad push prior to the Super Bowl

This weekend marks the official launch of the 2011 Elantra on the AFC Championship game.  Below is a note from our marketing dept. explaining our big presence during the third quarter of this weekend’s game.   Hyundai is also mentioned in USA Today as one of three companies (Anheuser Busch and Audi are the other two) who are previewing/taking advantage of the AFC Championship to get a jump on their Super Bowl ads.

As the 2010 NFL Season draws nearer to a climatic close with its two championship games this weekend, HMA is flexing its muscle by overtaking the 3Q of the AFC Championship Game!  Hyundai has signed on for the big AFC game between the New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.   The game is an excellent way in which to announce the arrival of our perennial Pro-Bowl vehicle, the 2011 Hyundai Elantra.  The Championship Game is one of the top five most watched programs of the year {35 million viewers} and provides us with a unique opportunity to unveil the new campaign for the Elantra called “Snap Out of It.”  The distinctive “Snap Out of It” campaign tackles the issue of years of consumer complacency within the compact car segment.  By showing the current doldrums view of the compact car market, the 2011 Elantra stands out from the pack with its distinctive fluidic design, best in class front legroom and 40 MPG.  The 2011 Elantra typifies what it takes to win in the NFL…teamwork.  The sum of the Elantra parts is what makes this vehicle so unique and eye-catching from the rest of the competition, that we do not need any special gimmicks to promote this great package.  It blitzes the audience into snapping out of their current small, bland and uninspiring compact car and demands them to pay attention to the Elantra in a very unique way.  The AFC Championship Game can be seen on Sunday, January 23rdat 6:30 p.m. EST on CBS.  Hyundai has sacked the 3Q for auto-exclusivity to showcase portions of the new campaign by airing two new Elantra spots entitled “Sheep” and “Childhood.” Sheep is a spot that shows how we have become complacent in the compact car segment by not demanding more from our vehicles and accepting what everyone is drives in the segment and the Childhood spot talks about how we have been conditioned from an early age to accept that all compact cars must be cramped.  All of the “Snap Out of it” spots tout that the 40-MPG Elantra is here and ready to become a real game-changer in the category. In addition to the two new Elantra spots, we will also be airing two current Sonata spots to complete the playbook for the 3Q rotation.  To view the two new Elantra “Snap Out of It” campaign spots that will make their debut on the AFC Championship Game, please click on the Marketing Blog link – http://www.hyundaimarketingblog.com/index.aspx.

Hyundai Builds the New CR-X Honda Didn’t

DETROIT — When we first heard details on the Hyundai Veloster three-door hot-hatch we wondered if it was the new CRX that Honda didn’t build. With two six-speed transmissions to choose from, a kicking power-to-weight ratio and up to 40 mpg the answer is yes.

Hell yes.

The near-production 2012 Hyundai Veloster shown at the Detroit auto show is a curious FWD hatchback offering three doors (one on the driver’s side, two on the passenger’s) and a liftgate in a design that incorporates the aggressive lines of the Sonata and Euro-market i40 Wagon with a rear end inspired by … a motorcycle helmet.

The aggressive and sporty look is backed up by a 1.6-liter direct-injection four-banger with dual continuously variable valve timing. It offers a relatively potent 138 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque. Though not as powerful as the 180-horsepower Scion tC (the most powerful car in this class), the Hyundai weighs 2,584 pounds compared to the Scion’s 3,060 pounds — a difference of nearly 500 pounds.

“Somehow I think Colin Chapman would be pleased,” Hyundai USA boss John Krafcik said at the press conference unveiling the car.

You have your choice of two transmissions, both with six speeds: a lightweight manual for purists and a new Hyundai-developed dual-clutch transmission for everyone else. Hyundai estimates the combination of the DCT, small engine and low weight will produce a stellar 40 mpg.

No one’s driven the Veloster yet, at least no one who can talk about it, so all comparisons to the venerable Honda CRX and the new Honda CR-Z hybrid must occur in the purely hypothetical realm. But it doesn’t take a genius to see the Veloster smokes the CR-Z with better fuel economy, more power, lower weight, better transmissions and a more attractive aesthetic.

Hyundai, like Honda with the CR-Z, is marketing this car as “fun to drive.” It made a point of noting the McPherson struts and coil springs up front and what they call a V-torsion beam rear suspension out back. We think that’s marketing speak for a variation on the twist-beam torsion bar. The car rolls on 17-inch alloys with 18-inchers available.

Ultimately, the Veloster may compete against cars from Mini instead of Honda, since it offers more power in a package that weighs slightly more than the three-door Cooper but less than the five-door Clubman. Look for the Veloster this summer with a price starting around $17,000.

2011 HYUNDAI SONATA SOARS IN KBB.COM’S "MOST RESEARCHED NEW VEHICLES" REPORT

The all-new Hyundai Sonata, a North American Car of the Year finalist, was deemed the “most noteworthy success story” of the year in kbb.com’s “Most Researched New Vehicles of 2010” report. Sonata leapt 24 places to number five overall. Because Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com is one of the most-trafficked automotive research sites, visitation to specific vehicles has become a leading indicator of sales patterns for manufacturers. Hyundai will sell approximately 200,000 Sonatas in calendar year 2010 and volume is up 65 percent year-to-date (through November).

Hyundai’s popular all-new Sonata helped to re-shuffle the deck among the top 20 most-researched new cars of 2010, knocking a few vehicles further down on the list compared to where they were last year,” said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com.

“The research from Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com validates a trend we’ve been following throughout the year. Sonata is clearly making more consumers’ shopping lists than ever before,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president, product and corporate planning, Hyundai Motor America. “Data from Compete shows that Sonata was the most-shopped vehicle on the Internet six of the last seven months, proving that as awareness and availability of the 2011 model increased, shopping patterns quickly followed suit.”

The 2011 Sonata represents a modern approach to the traditional mid-size sedan segment by using only advanced four-cylinder engines, emotional design and luxury features offered with Hyundai’s strong value proposition. In addition to the standard 2.4-liter, gasoline direct injection powertrain making 35 miles-per-gallon highway, Hyundai added a 2.0-liter, 274-horsepower turbo and first-ever hybrid to the Sonata lineup. The Sonata Turbo went on sale in September and Sonata Hybrid, achieving 40 miles-per-gallon highway, will reach showrooms in January.

The all-new Sonata was the first mid-size car to receive a five-star crash test rating under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new, more stringent 2011 system and an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick honor, placing it in a safety position unsurpassed in the industry.

“The site traffic on Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com clearly demonstrates which models are resonating with today’s new-car shoppers, especially when we examine the most-researched new vehicles of 2010,” said Bell. “Hyundai’s homerun Sonata was not only the darling of the industry this year, but also made a strong impression in the minds of new-car shoppers by leaping ahead to the fifth most-researched new car of 2010.”

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through about 800 dealerships nationwide. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle warranty, Hyundai’s 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty and 5-years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.