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Hyundai crashes two Sonatas in public to prove a point about safety

According to The Korean Car Blog, Hyundai has a quality perception gap in the minds of its domestic customers, but it's not with another brand: some South Koreans think US-market Hyundai products are safer than those sold in South Korea. For example, home-market consumers think the US gets more advanced airbag systems than they do. Hyundai decided that the best way to combat that idea was to ram two 2015 Sonata 2.0 Turbos into one another, each one traveling at 34 miles per hour, in front of a live audience. From what we can glean from a Google-translated version of the backstory, the company had a local university professor secure two vehicles, a Lakeside Blue model from South Korea and a Venetian Red model manufactured in the company's US plant and flown over. It invited buyers of the 30th Anniversary Sonata and members of the local media to a drive-in movie premiere on August 22, the show actually being the crash test. In addition to the two Sonatas that would autonomously throw themselves at one another, the company had a Tucson Fuel Cell use its hydrogen fuel cell stack to make popcorn and 119 various emergency vehicles emergency services on standby in case anything went wrong. When guests were asked which car they thought would fare better, 74 percent of the crowd said the US-spec car. In interviews conducted on the street, 81 percent of respondents said they believe the US car is safer. The video above is in Korean, but car crashes are a universal language. Check it out to see which car comes out better.

Kevin Hart tracks his daughter's Genesis in Hyundai Super Bowl ad

As the official automotive sponsor of the NFL, Hyundai has a massive advertising presence during Super Bowl 50, including four commercials premiering before or during the game. A newly released spot titled First Date markets the Genesis sedan (soon to be the Genesis G80) with humor by casting comedian Kevin Hart as a concerned dad who spies on his daughter's date. The commercial highlights Hyundai's Blue Link Car Finder that lets owners track their vehicle from a smartwatch. Hart uses it to follow his daughter on her date in increasingly absurd ways. By the end of the spot, he's hanging off a helicopter to keep an eye on her. This is also the second automotive ad to use a Queen song this year. Where Hyundai's commercial uses Another One Bites the Dust, Honda picks Somebody to Love for its Ridgeline spot. The 60-second commercial airs during the pre-kick time slot and joins Ryanville and The Chase among Hyundai's Super Bowl ads. The still unreleased Better premieres during the pre-game and shows the automaker's desire to improve its vehicles and customer experience. Related Video:

2019 Hyundai Nexo fuel-cell debuts in California by year’s end

Hyundai will make its 2019 Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell crossover available in California by end of the year, and while it still hasn't announced pricing, it said the vehicle will be sold at Hyundai dealerships in Van Nuys and Tustin in Southern Cal, with a San Jose dealer coming online in early 2019. Read Autoblog's Quick Spin review of the 2019 Nexo here. The Nexo is the replacement for the Tucson Fuel Cell, which it leased to customers and use to log testing miles in 18 countries. Considered the second generation of Hyundai's fuel cell car, the Nexo boasts an estimated range of 380 miles, 115 more than its predecessor, in the Nexo Blue trim, with an estimated MPGe of 65 miles in the city, 58 on the highway and 61 combined. The Limited model offers a slightly more, uh, limited driving range of 354 miles and an estimated MPGe of 59/54/57. The EPA has yet to publish official fuel-economy ratings. Power and acceleration are also improved to 161 horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque. Hyundai developed the Nexo on its own dedicated architecture, which it says weighs less (though how much is not known), offers an improved power-to-weight ratio, and delivers a 20 percent faster 0-60 mph sprint time at a not-particularly blistering 9.5 seconds over the Tuscon. Despite the three hydrogen tanks, they take up less total space than the Tucson FCEV, so rear cargo volume is increased by nearly 6 cubic feet to 29.6 cubic feet, with the battery relocated to the trunk. The Nexo is also longer by 10.3 inches and wider by 1.5 inches, with a longer wheelbase, though it's shorter by 1 inch. Overall power increases to 135 kilowatts, with a slightly less energy-dense fuel cell but a battery pack that jumps by 16 kW to 40 kW. The Nexo also gets a host of driver-assist technologies, like forward collision-avoidance assist, high-beam assist and what it calls remote smart parking assist, which enables the car to autonomously park or retrieve itself from either a parking space, including parallel slots and rear-first parking spaces. Related Video: