It’s hard to pick an inflection point for Hyundai. When did the Korean automaker go from a punchline to a leader? When did people begin taking it seriously? When did its cars actually get good? In reality, it’s less about moments and more of a process, set into motion right at the turn of the century. And in the latest video over on The Drive’s YouTube channel, we attempt to retrace what might just be the most impressive turnaround in automotive history.
For roughly the first 30 years since Hyundai Motor’s founding in 1968, the automaker didn’t accomplish much more than producing vehicles with one redeeming quality: that they were cheap to buy. They weren’t well-made, and they certainly weren’t enjoyable behind the wheel or luxurious by any measure. The Hyundai we know today began on its path in 1999, when the company’s founder Chung Ju-Yung, handed over control to his son, Chung Mong-Koo. That was also the same year that Hyundai acquired Kia.
In Chung Mong-Koo’s early days at the helm, he focused on improving reliability first and foremost, knowing that without quality, whatever other headway the brand made wouldn’t stick with consumers. Then, he backed it up with Hyundai’s famous 100,000-mile warranty, which is credited with improving sales of its vehicles by 80% here in the U.S. The proof began to bear out in just half a decade. In 1999, J.D. Power ranked Hyundai among the worst automakers for initial quality. By 2004, it was tied for second with Honda.
We’re just getting started, though. This was all in service of getting the public to consider Hyundai; the next step was making its products desirable. Here, Hyundai concentrated on bringing in the right people and, frankly, it didn’t miss. The video gets into more details, of course, but aside from some engineering and cost-saving missteps—which, frankly, the company responded to well, like with lifetime warranties even for secondhand buyers in the case of the Theta II engine debacle—the campaign that’s led Hyundai to this moment, here in 2026, is a monumental one to behold in its entirety. Whatever’s next for the behemoth, let’s hope it includes a production Vision N 74.
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