Hyundai is the Ideal Vehicle Brand: AutoPacific Study
16 June 2006

• Inaugural Study Shows Hyundai Best Meets Customer Expectations
• Sonata and Santa Fe Also Win Top Category Honors

(Seoul, Korea) Automotive research and consulting firm AutoPacific announced today that Hyundai has been named the 2006 Ideal Vehicle Brand. The Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe also earned Ideal Vehicle awards for the premium midsize car and standard midsize sport utility segments.

AutoPacific’s first-ever Ideal Vehicle Awards (IVA) ranked auto manufacturers for how closely their 2006 model year cars or trucks came to matching owners’ expectations and criteria. The vehicles that customers said they would change the least were considered the most “ideal.”

“This award is the result of Hyundai’s laser focus on listening to customer needs – and meeting those needs in our new product designs,” said John Krafcik, vice president, Product Development and Strategic Planning, Hyundai Motor America. “The Hyundai brand stands for industry-leading quality, superior standard safety technology, and great value – and that’s a recipe we’ll continue to build on to meet and exceed the expectations of our growing customer base.”

To determine the winners, AutoPacific asked owners to rate their new car or truck on how close it came to “ideal” in the following areas: exterior size; passenger roominess; cargo space; driver’s seat comfort; driver’s seat visibility; interior technology; power; ease of getting in and out; interior storage compartments; and tires and wheels.

“With Hyundai being the top-rated brand in our first Ideal Vehicle Awards and having two vehicle segment wins, it has outscored all other brands in the U.S. market,” said AutoPacific’s present, George Peterson. “Sonata hit the target for ideal exterior dimensions, passenger area and cargo space, and the Santa Fe came out ahead with solid numbers across the board. These results show that Hyundai’s planners, engineers and designers have paid close attention to what their customers want.”

The IVA ratings reflect input from buyers and lessees of new vehicles acquired from September 2005 through January 2006, with the exception of pickup trucks (which were not included in the study due to body style differences within each line).

Earlier this month, J.D. Power and Associates announced that Hyundai is the number one non-premium nameplate in the 2006 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS) and is number three among all nameplates. Hyundai owners had fewer problems with their vehicles than any other non-premium car or truck brand.

In addition to Hyundai’s strong overall showing, the Hyundai Tucson earned the trophy for the highest initial quality in the compact multi-activity vehicle segment

while the redesigned Sonata, all-new Azera as well as the Elantra and Tiburon earned top three segment performances. Last year in the IQS, Tucson was named the highest quality all-new model launched in the industry. The IQS study measures 217 attributes, including ride/handling/braking, engine and transmission, and a broad range of defect and design problems reported by vehicle owners.

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Co. has grown into the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group which in 2005 sold 3.7 million vehicles to ranked as the world’s sixth largest automotive manufacturer and includes over two dozen auto-related subsidiaries and affiliates. Hyundai Motor Co., employing over 68,000 people worldwide, posted US$26.1 billion in sales in 2004 (on a non-consolidated basis). Hyundai vehicles are sold in 193 countries through some 5000 dealerships and showrooms. Hyundai Motor Co. is a sponsor of the 2006 FIFA Germany World Cup. Further information about Hyundai Motor Co. and its products is available at http://www.hyundai-motor.com

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif. is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced by more than 700 Hyundai dealerships nationwide.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., is an independent manufacturing operation of Hyundai Motor Company, based in Seoul, Korea. HMMA currently produces the Sonata sedan and Santa Fe crossover vehicle. At full capacity, HMMA will produce 300,000 vehicles annually.

AutoPacific (www.autopacific.com) is a future-oriented automotive marketing and product-consulting firm. It publishes a wide variety of syndicated studies for the automotive industry. The firm also conducts extensive proprietary research and consulting for auto manufacturers, distributors, marketers and suppliers worldwide.