Hyundai, South Korea's largest car manufacturer, knows that US consumers are on tight budgets, so the brand is releasing an aesthetically pleasing line of cars that offer high value at low prices.

Despite an industry-wide downturn, the brand achieved a 6.2% sales increase in November, even while competing against such heavyweights as Honda and Toyota. Analysts suggest that this will enable Hyundai to further pursue new marketing and design schemes in order to improve brand value.Continue reading...

It’s hard to argue with Hyundai’s recent track record. It defied a depressed U.S. auto market to advertise in a Super Bowl last February that most auto makers had abandoned. And then its ground-breaking “Assurance” program – picking up car payments for buyers who subsequently lost their jobs – launched Hyundai on a spectacular arc through 2009 that saw it actually increase sales by 4% for the year-to-date through October.

But now comes the hard part: leveraging these accomplishments for the Hyundai brand into longer-term success in the U.S. Hyundai has always aspired to be the Korean version of Toyota, and now is its best opportunity to kick that can down the road a bit.

In this pursuit, Hyundai has decided to do one very expensive, but probably very smart thing: up its presence in the Super Bowl. While U.S. auto sales are expected to be anemic for months to come, Hyundai has committed to purchasing five spots in the next Super Bowl, February 7 – as well as an Academy Awards presence that used to be the strict purview of only the biggest automakers.

Unfortunately, there might be a problem with what Hyundai actually wants to do with its Super Bowl advertising time. Instead of coming up with the next iconoclastic big wrinkle that consumers might actually care about, such as “Assurance,” Hyundai apparently plans to waste its $10-to-$15-million investment in Super Bowl TV advertising on “greenwashing” itself – yes, like every other auto maker.Continue reading...