Hyundai UK Wants You To Pronounce Its Name Differently From Now On

From "Hy-un-dai" to "Hyun-day."

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Adrian Padeanu

By: Adrian Padeanu

Jan 2, 2023 at 2:13am ET

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Hyundai claims 2023 represents the dawn of a new era for the brand in the United Kingdom where a new marketing campaign has an interesting goal. Through an ad featuring the Ioniq 5 electric crossover, the automaker wants to change the pronunciation of the brand from the more anglicized "Hy-un-dai" to "Hyun-day.” According to the brand, the latter represents the global pronunciation and better reflects the Korean heritage.

To spread the word about this somewhat unusual change, Hyundai has created a new commercial that takes place at a few fictional (and similarly pronounced) small businesses in the city: the High 'n' Dye hair salon, Highland Eye eyewear specialist, a Hawaiian Tie shop, and the High End Pie bakery. The takeaway of this 30-second clip is: "If you thought you knew our cars and how to say our name, maybe it's time to think again."

2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N new spy photos

Ashley Andrew, Hyundai Motor UK Managing Director:

"Hyundai is a young, innovative and progressive brand which has transformed with great speed. We are proudly Korean with real character and purpose. With this campaign, we want to inject a little humour and personality to our brand which we hope will encourage more people to learn more about Hyundai."

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While Kia has changed its logo to go along with the massive progress the company has made in recent decades, sister brand Hyundai has so far refrained from updating its corporate image. Both are hard at work preparing for what will ultimately be electric-only lineups, with products like the Ioniq 5 and EV6 leading the way. 2023 should see the unveiling of the larger Ioniq 7 and EV9, set to join the already revealed Ioniq 6 sedan and the upcoming Ioniq 5 N high-performance model.

Despite the EV push, the two South Korean brands are not ready yet to sunset internal combustion engines as ICE-powered cars will remain on sale in Europe until 2035. However, it is the end of the run for Kia's Stinger as the V6-powered gran tourer will be discontinued later this year after a final batch of 1,000 units representing the Tribute Edition.