Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang Immerses You In The Hyundai Brand Experience

Carmudi Philippines recently joined Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. to cover the Hyundai 2017 Truck & Bus Megafair, but we weren't just there to see the Korean vehicle manufacturer's complete commercial vehicle lineup. We were also there to visit the Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang, Hyundai's largest facility of its kind in Korea and the perfect place to immerse yourself in the complete Hyundai Brand Experience.

Located about an hour's drive away from Seoul in the city of Goyang, the facility opened only recently in April and is the fifth such facility of the Korean vehicle manufacturer following similar ones in Seoul, Coex Mall in Gangnam-gu in Seoul, Hanam in Seoul, and in Moscow, Russia.

The Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang has a total of 14 levels though only four are open to the public. The first level right after the reception area showcases Hyundai's passenger car lineup with a lone Xcient P540 tractor head, the largest offered by Hyundai Motor Company, representing the brand's commercial vehicle models.

Immediately following this is a series of interactive exhibits showcasing how a vehicle is made, from raw iron ore to its assembly as a finished car. Along the way, visitors are encouraged to touch and feel how much a raw iron ore weighs and test how strong high-tensile strength steel is compared to raw steel, create a body panel through stamping, weld the car's components together through spot and laser-welding, paint the steel body with a color of their choice from 133 color chips used in 18 Hyundai cars, to assembling the car. After walking down an expansive staircase to the basement level, visitors then get to experience the various systems used to create Hyundai's cars. The Airbag section, for example, not only lets them touch an actual airbag to find out what it feels like but also see how fast--and loud--an airbag is when it actually deploys and where they are placed in a car's cabin. The Safety section allows the visitor to see what goes on during an actual crash test through the use of augmented reality, while the Wind section shows them how aerodynamics play an important part in a car's design. The Sound exhibit lets visitors experience the different sounds a car and its components make as well as show's them how a car's interior acoustics are designed, while the Powertrain exhibit puts the audience right in the middle of a car's engine to see how its internal components work.

A ride up in an elevator to the third level then takes the visitors to the Design exhibit where Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture design language is on full display with the use of over a thousand kinetic poles that create both fluid-like and rigid shapes, with the pièce de résistance being the car-like shape the poles make that "drives" through the display. Following this, visitors are then taken to the 4D digital ride simulator of a Hyundai i20 World Rally Championship car, from how it starts out as a raw iron ore to the finished product as a rally car as it's driven through a stage by drivers Hayden Paddon and John Kennard. Immediately after is a full-scale recreation of the 44-meter long jump the i20 WRC did at the 2014 Rally Sweden, a display of the rally car's bare safety cage, a recreation of the service park where the rally car is serviced during a race, and a podium where visitors can lift a replica of a winner's trophy over their heads. The Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang actually offers a lot more that, due to time constraints, we were unable to experience, like the Drive Out program which lets visitors experience various Hyundai models by driving them out for 4.5 kilometers to as far as 22.4 kilometers depending on the vehicle, from the Hyundai Ionic all-electric car to the 5.0-liter Genesis EQ900 Limousine to a brief camping experience with the Hyundai Solati (H350 as it is known locally) camper. The venue also has three restaurant facilities operated by the Haevichi Hotel & Resort as well as spaces where visitors can either relax, like the Roof Terrace and Outdoor Plaza, or shop for souvenirs and Hyundai-badged lifestyle items, particularly its WRC gears. To complete the entire Hyundai Brand Experience, Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang also has a by-appointment Service Center where customers can drop off their cars to be serviced and either wait at the customer lounge or view the exhibits before picking the car up from the service manager in the very same building. The Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang truly lets you experience what Hyundai as a vehicle manufacturer offers--from how it starts out as raw iron ore that's made into high-tensile strength steel to, if you're in Korea and happen to own a Hyundai vehicle, having it periodically serviced at the facility--all in climate-controlled comfort and without being exposed to noxious fumes, making it a brand experience that's unlike any offered by any other manufacturer. The Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with tickets at 10,000 Won (over P440) for adults, 7,000 Won (over P300) for the Youth (presumably for teenagers), and 5,000 Won (around P220) for children and senior citizens.