The secret of Hyundai’s logo: What’s behind the H?

Cars can conceal secrets in each of their components, and this is the case with Hyundai’s logo. Many people think it is nothing more than a stylized letter H, the initial of the Korean brand’s name. But there is a back story to it.

And it turns out that the choice of the name Hyundai itself also has a story of its own.

What does Hyundai mean in Korean?

In 1947, the business grew from 20 employees to 70, and that is when founder Chung Ju-yung took an additional step and created a company named Hyundai Group. In Korean, the name is a combination of hyun, which means modern, and dai, which means era or generation. The compound name could be translated as modernity.

This original desire for innovation and a better future have been the main driver of the brand since then. Chung never gave up despite the difficulties, even when his country had to be rebuilt following a very long civil war that devastated the Korean peninsula in the early 1950s.

What does the logo mean?

Before dying in 2001, Chung Ju-yung donated 1,001 cows to the North Korean state to fight the famine afflicting his fellow Koreans.

This sense of fraternity stayed with him all his life, and he sought to reflect that in the Hyundai logo, which is a stylized H that, in its latest design, also suggests two people shaking hands, in this case the brand and the client.

In the image, one of the two characters moves a leg slightly back for stability. To Koreans, this means that client and company reached a deal after going up an escalator or a hill.

The company itself explains it on its website: “The logo loosely resembles two silhouettes shaking hands. This is a nod to Hyundai’s commitment to customer service and teamwork. It also represents a salesperson reaching a deal with a customer. The oval shape symbolizes the globe and how Hyundai has expanded to car lovers throughout the world.”

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