Hyundai To Launch Luxury Brand; Ridiculous Name to Follow

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: March 18th, 2008

Hyundai sales executive Young-Key Koo revealed to China Daily (via MotorAuthority) that the Korean carmaker will be spinning off a new luxury brand. The new nameplate caps Hyundai's steady upmarket climb, and could well compete with Acura, Infiniti and Lexus in the not-too-distant but not-anytime-soon future. The brand will be officially launched in 2010. New luxury models will hit China first. A sportscar and V8-powered "flagship sedan" are set to arrive in the Middle Kingdom next year, with a CUV to follow. News of a new name and logo has our hopes high for something hilariously generic, yet totally inappropriate. "The all new Smegma V8" sounds good to me, as does "The European-Inspired Ennui Roadster." So we put it to you, TTAC's Best and Brightest. What should Hyundai call its new luxury brand?

Edward Niedermeyer

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4 of 41 comments

Talldude07 on Mar 19, 2008
Cicero : March 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm Whats Korean for lead balloon? # Kurt B : March 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm Lets see.. Hyundai is to Honda as X is to Acura. Acuyexus? # lprocter1982 : March 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pm How about I Can't Believe It's Not Hyundai HAHA I cant stop laughing at these new names. How about INFINIDAI or KMW (Korean Motor Works!). On a serious note what is it with every car company trying to become the next Lexus (VW, and now Hyundai) The market for those high end snob cars is shrinking. And not to mention nothing beats the brand prestige of Mercedes or BMW or Jaguar...Why cant they just buy the Jaguar brand? Maybe they want to build a new organic brand from scratch but with the economy in the US they way it is that is not the best choice.

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Theflyersfan on Mar 19, 2008

How about iSteal?

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Menno on Mar 19, 2008

No, no, no. isteal would have to be a CHINESE luxury car brand (itself an obvious oxymoron).

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Martin Schwoerer on Mar 20, 2008

Hyundai already has lots of impressive names that they have been using -- albeit in Europe. Accent Atlantic Amica ATOZ Galloper Grandeur Highway i-mode Santamo Satellite Sonica Scoupe Starex NB the Scoupe was officially called the S-Coupe after some fool journalist posed the question: "Is the Scoupe a coupe? No, it snot." But seriously, I think Hyundai should take inspiration from the part of Korea north of the DMZ and call its new brand "Dear Leader", or at least Fearless Leader.

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