Gary Rome Hyundai

Hyundai Sonata Wins Automotive Excellence Award For Safety

Fountain Valley, Calif. (Sept. 15, 2005) - Hyundai Sonata captured one of POPULAR MECHANICS' inaugural Automotive Excellence awards, winning the safety category. The award was announced in the October issue of POPULAR MECHANICS, one of the largest and most trusted men's monthly magazines, reaching more than 9 million readers.

The all-new Sonata sets a new standard for safety equipment with six standard airbags (dual front, front seat-mounted side-impact and front and rear passenger side curtain airbags), standard active front head restraints, standard ABS and, for the first time in the midsize sedan segment, standard Electronic Stability Control (ESC) with Traction Control.

''We're especially honored that Sonata was chosen by POPULAR MECHANICS' editors as embodying excellence in safety,'' said Bob Cosmai, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. ''The all-new Sonata celebrates Hyundai's commitment to lead the auto industry in the standard application of the most effective safety technologies.''

''The Sonata truly merits the POPULAR MECHANICS Automotive Excellence Award for safety because it offers a full complement of both active and passive safety features as standard equipment in every model,'' said Don Chaikin, automotive editor, POPULAR MECHANICS. ''By expanding the universe of automotive safety from the luxury end of the market to the very affordable, every-man end, the Sonata has broken new ground and crushed what amounted to very real market barriers.''

POPULAR MECHANICS' editorial staff selected Sonata after driving hundreds of thousands of miles in well over 100 different new cars, trucks and SUVs.

''The positive reaction from consumers and the automotive press to Sonata's segment-leading safety equipment has been rewarding,'' said John Krafcik, vice president, Product Development and Strategic Planning, Hyundai Motor America.

''Winning the POPULAR MECHANICS Automotive Excellence Award for safety is further validation that Hyundai's leadership in standardizing the industry's most effective safety technologies - like Electronic Stability Control and side impact air curtains - will continue to resonate in the market.''

The midsize Sonata is the best-selling sedan in the Hyundai product line, and the first 2006 model rolled off the production line in March at Hyundai's all-new manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala. The all-new Sonata was designed specifically to meet the needs of the American consumer and is the product of three years of intensive collaborative development at Hyundai's global R&D operations, including those in Michigan and California.

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif. is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced by more than 670 Hyundai dealerships nationwide.

About POPULAR MECHANICS POPULAR MECHANICS is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 19 U.S. titles and 142 international editions. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (76.3 million according to MRI, spring 2005). The company also publishes 19 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.