The Pride was introduced 35 years ago, but as it was really a Mazda 121, does it count?

Whilst Hyundai/Kia have made good progress, the sales chart is slightly skewed because the usual favourites (Ford/Vauxhall/VW) are unable to produce enough cars to meet demand.

Having driven a couple of new KIAs (courtesy cars) they were fine in isolation. Buy didn't feel as good quality as my slightly older Toyota's - same segment.

Where they've really made progress is making their cars look and feel European. That is most likely due to the hiring of European design staff.

Edited by Moodyman on 14/02/2022 at 09:49

The Pride was introduced 35 years ago, but as it was really a Mazda 121, does it count?

Aah, but you could get whitewall tyres on the Pride!

;-)

And anyway, the first BMW car (the Dixi) was a license built Austin Seven!.

I liked the early 2000s Kia and Hyundai. Suddenly, having a v6 with aircon and automatic gearbox, or even the 2.0 (wow) was attainable for people on modest incomes. A lot seemed to be bought by retirees and kept till death.

My uncle had an early Hyundai Sonata (this would have been late 80's), though I think it was the 2.4 (which was a 4 cyl) rather than the 3.0 V6. He liked the car well enough but following a dispute with the dealer, got shot of it after not very long and vowed never to have another Hyundai, at least not till someone else was selling them!.

The first Hyundai's I remember were the Steller's which became popular as taxi's in the 80's. I believe they were sometimes referred to as the 'Korean Cortina'.