Hyundai prepares Super Bowl game plan

DETROIT — Hyundai is going to leverage the Super Bowl to tout its Shopper Assurance program, the foundation of its retail strategy intended to make the buying process more convenient for consumers.

The upcoming three-row Palisade will be featured as well in the 60-second first quarter spot, which will star actor/producer Jason Bateman.

Shopper Assurance, which rolled out to dealers nationwide around a year ago, is built around fair-market price listings online, flexible test drives where the vehicles are brought to consumers, the ability to handle more of the transaction online and a three-day worry-free exchange on newly purchased vehicles.

Hyundai Motor America marketing chief Dean Evans said most dealers have bought in on the strategy, but there has been pushback and not all have adopted it just yet.

One dealer who hasn't instituted the program said the Shopper Assurance initiative is "an answer to a question nobody asked."

"I think a majority of dealers understand what good business is," the dealer said. "I understand the underlining idea of the program. I'm just not so certain that it was required to be rolled out by the manufacturer."

Hyundai wants to move past the long-standing practice of price negotiating with Shopper Assurance and create a more seamless experience that saves consumers time.

Evans told Automotive News last summer that people were spending around 5 1/2 hours in Hyundai dealerships while buying a car, according to J.D. Power data from a few years ago. Hyundai said 632 of its dealers, who account for more than 77 percent of Hyundai's sales volume, now offer the voluntary program.

"What we're finding is if you don't beat the crap out of the customer in negotiation and you menuize the F&I situation [and] give them everything up front, they come through faster and they buy more," Evans said last summer.

Hyundai's spot is being developed by its agency of record, INNOCEAN USA, and is directed by Jim Jenkins, the commercial director from O Positive Films who has worked on the brand's past Super Bowl ads, including "Team" in 2013.

The Palisade, which rides on a new chassis, goes on sale next summer and will be produced in Ulsan, South Korea. It's powered by a 3.8-liter V-6 direct-injection engine that produces an estimated 291 hp at 6,000 rpm. Hyundai's biggest utility vehicle to date, the Palisade is longer, wider and taller than the outgoing Santa Fe XL.

Hyundai said the Palisade will make its TV advertising debut the week before the Super Bowl in a new 30-second spot that will air during the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 20.