The Veloster gets a big role in the film with a long and complex chase scene.
The diminutive Hyundai Veloster won’t get just a small chase scene in the coming Ant-Man and the Wasp superhero flick.
Hyundai says the quirky hot hatch, which could use some blockbuster exposure after recently hitting stores, will treat audiences to one of the longest and most complex chase scenes in Marvel history. The film hits U.S. theaters Friday, July 6.
Superhero movie fans are accustomed to seeing luxury brands dominate the screen, but the flame-emblazoned Veloster has wrested away the spotlight this time as Hyundai looks to get in front of a younger, male-skewing audience.
Hyundai is capitalizing on the moment by packaging the Veloster with two other key models that’ll get cameos: the new Kona subcompact crossover that went on sale this spring and the redesigned 2019 Santa Fe midsize crossover, due this summer.
The Veloster gets a big role in the film with a long and complex chase scene.
This is a defining year for the brand, which is fine-tuning its product portfolio to meet consumer demand for utility vehicles.
Hyundai Motor America’s U.S. sales jumped 10 percent in May behind the automaker’s highest monthly tally of crossover sales ever, 28,777. May was the third-straight month of record utility vehicle sales for the automaker. The Kona reached 5,079 in May, up 53 percent from April. Sales of the Tucson compact crossover through May were up 29 percent to 53,776; a freshened model is on the way for fall.
The Ant-Man tie-in, which includes a TV ad campaign for the Veloster, could add even more fuel to the growth.
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Hyundai Motor America marketing chief Dean Evans said the brand is a “big believer” in the superhero genre. Hyundai sat down with Marvel last year and determined that the Ant-Man audience would be a nice fit for the Veloster. Plus, the timing of the movie’s debut was ideal, with the Veloster having just gone on sale.
Evans said Hyundai and Marvel thought they achieved a good balance between “authentic car placement and a really entertaining story, which is the endgame of success for both of us.”
Hyundai wanted as much screen time as possible, but it was up to the film’s creative team to work in the Veloster as it saw fit.
“They hold to what they think is an authentic storyline around how much a car needs to be in it,” Evans told Automotive News. “The Veloster is a star of that chase scene. It’s toward the end of the movie. It makes an impact on the audience.”
The ‘Ant-Man’ tie-in could add more fuel to Hyundai’s U.S. sales growth.
While this is Hyundai’s first star turn in a Marvel movie, it isn’t new to the genre. The automaker formed a two-year deal with Marvel and Netflix in 2015 that gave it product-placement rights with hero franchises “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” along with “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist.” The deal culminated in 2017 when the four heroes joined together in “The Defenders.”
Now, Hyundai is back in an effort to piggyback on another pop culture moment. The Ant-Man alignment matches up with a larger strategy to build Hyundai’s brand image on high-profile platforms such as the Marvel properties and the National Football League.
Evans said the brand will continue to seek opportunities on the silver screen.
“We believe there’s two ways you can go in” to a movie deal, Evans said. “There’s more organically, where they find you, or there’s the other way, where you try to insert yourself. Both work, so we continue to explore both of those paths.”
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