Hyundai Adds High-Tech to Its New and Improved Image
Hyundai (HYMLF.PK) used the 2011 Consumer Electronic Show to help launch Hyundai Blue Link, its newest system for communication, navigation and a lot of other high-tech functions. The new system includes a laundry list of features like converting voice to text messages and using your phone to start your car by remote control.
Until recently features like that were only available from the sort of high-tech aftermarket manufacturers you see at the Consumer Electronics Show, and not as equipment installed at the factory. For that matter, some of those features would have been science fiction for any car company, not too long ago.
"Before 2007, we didn't even have navigation," said Michael Deitz, a Hyundai national manager. Those high-tech features seem especially out of character for Hyundai, a brand that was built in the United States on cheap cars. That's exactly why Hyundai is doing it.
Hyundai's new 21st century gloss
Hyundai has been campaigning for a few years now to be taken seriously as a full-line manufacturer, including luxury cars like the Hyundai Genesis and the even more upscale Hyundai Equus. Hyundai is also adding a sporty component, with cars like the upcoming Hyundai Veloster.
Deitz said in a Jan 7 interview here that the sporty Hyundai Veloster will be one of the first cars to get the new Blue Link system. "It's aimed at Gen Y, it's sort of an urban vehicle, it's really oriented to youth and tech," he said. The Hyundai Veloster goes on sale this summer, Deitz said. The much more mainstream Hyundai Sonata midsize car also gets the new system, he said.
Blue Link is a so-called "embedded" system that in effect has its own in-car cell phone permanently installed, Deitz explained. The GM OnStar system is the best-known embedded system. Ford uses a different concept, employing the customer's own cell phone instead of an installed capability. Both concepts offer similar functions. Ford argues that it's cheaper for the customer to use his or her own phone. GM argues that it's safer to use an installed system, since it's always present and it's less likely to be misplaced or damaged in a crash.
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