Hyundai aims to polish its image

Ailing European brands like Opel and Peugeot may find it hard to believe, but Hyundai thinks it has an image problem.

Its own research shows that even more consumers would flock to buy popular models like the Hyundai i30 hatchback if only it were made by a different carmaker.

“It’s not a luxury, it’s an absolute necessity,” Mark Hall, Hyundai Europe’s marketing director, said of the planned increase in the company’s advertising budget to an estimated 630 million euros (£544m).

Hyundai has transformed itself from a sports utility vehicle-focused (SUV) manufacturer with perceived quality issues to one of the hottest-selling carmakers thanks to European designed, engineered and built models.

Sales growth has averaged nearly 10 per cent in the past two years in a struggling European Union economy, lifting its share of the market to 3.4 per cent last year from 2.6 per cent in 2010.

However, Hyundai is currently at a point where many of its first-time buyers, lured by affordable prices, are poised to shop around again for a new car, and customer loyalty statistics show it would lose half of them today to rivals willing to undercut them with an even better offer.

“About 70 per cent of our vehicle parc in Europe is less than five years old,” Hyundai Europe chief operating officer Allan Rushforth said.