history of hyundai

Hyundai fired up in 1967 under Chung Ju-yung, first screwing together a Cortina with Ford before birthing its own Pony in 1975. Australia met the Excel in the 90s—cheap as chips, brisk as a headwind, and it sold like hot pies at the footy. After the bargain-basement phase, Hyundai went all-in on quality, design and warranties, and with Kia under the Hyundai Motor Group umbrella, started doing its own engines, gearboxes and platforms. These days it ranges from sensible i30s and Tucson SUVs to cheeky N performance models, plus EVs like the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 on the E-GMP platform. The glow-up is so complete the former punchline now writes the punchlines.