Searching for a safe vehicle? Look no further than Hyundai, Kia or VW, according to a recent poll by an American Insurance Organisation.
Korean newcomers Hyundai (affiliated with Kia) and VW have picked up nine awards each in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety press release. Collecting eight awards were Toyota, General Motors and Ford.
The Hyundai Sonata, Genesis, Santa Fe and Tucson all picked up awards, while Kia’s Optima, Forte Soul, Sorento and Sportage came up top in their respective categories. Audi meanwhile, received plaudits for the Jetta , the Golf, Touareg and Tiguan, while Audi’s A3, A4 and Q5 climbed to the top of the charts.
Hyundai, Kia and VW also score highly on price. As safer vehicles they will historically benefit from far cheapercar insurance premiums, this is as a result from insurers having to spend less money if the car has an accident. More details can be found at Moneysupermarket.com
Chrysler and Subaru were among other award winners with five each, Volvo and Mercedes managed four mentions, Honda and Nissan received two, Mitsubishi and BMW each got one.
What’s quite interesting about those numbers is that the more expensive vehicles are not always the safest ones: Hyundai are very much a budget brand of vehicle, and yet they have nine chart topping vehicles compared to BMWs one. It should however be pointed out that not every company had vehicles entered into each category (Subaru were the only company to win every category they were entered in to), so BMW’s lack of a small hatchback to match other companies will have cost them the chance to compete in that category, for example.
There is an argument that says Hyundai are determined to make the effort to be seen as a ’safe’ brand is because they do not have the reputation as a luxury company. In the same context, BMW’s are not marketed as a ’safe’ car - when was the last time you heard somebody say “Oh yeah, bought a new Beemer recently, you want to see how safe it is. It’s like being stroked by a host of angels, being hit by this thing.” No, drivers of BMWs are far more interested in Leather, computer controlled headrests and alloys- all of which the Germans provide, and by the bucket load. It would seem that Hyundai will have to be content with being safe.
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