Hyundai moves up in the automotive world, featured in competitor's advertising

This magazine ad for Chevrolet serves to welcome Hyundai
into the automotive big leagues by treating the automaker
as a respected competitor.

Advertisements for Korean automaker Hyundai's products often focus on cars made by someone else.

"The Sonata costs less than the Camry and has a longer warranty!" "The Azera has more interior room than the BMW 750i!" And so on.

The purpose of this type of ad is simple: to positively associate the product that's considered the inferior good with the more established and respected competitor.

And now, perhaps for the first time, Hyundai is finding itself on the other end of one of those ads.

General Motors, boasting its fuel efficiency, chose five competitors to illustrate its point that Chevrolet has more cars that get at least 30 miles per gallon than any other brand on the market. 

Toyota and Honda were the obvious benchmarks for this magazine ad, and Nissan was another shoe-in. Volkswagen followed, as a brand known best for its compact cars. But Hyundai -- only recently the synonym for "cheap car" in jokes or insults -- joined the roster, too.

For the moment, let's ignore the misleading nature of the ad (GM counts multiple versions of cars as their own distinct models to inflate Chevrolet's 30-mpg club) and look at what this means for Hyundai: General Motors is trying to benefit by associating itself with Hyundai's positive image.

There's been a pretty strong critical consensus in recent years that Hyundai makes quality automobiles. Several Hyundai models have inched their ways towards the tops of their classes, from the lowly Elantra to the new luxury Genesis. But this advertisement illustrates something far more meaningful than Hyundai's impressive roster of awards and accolades. It doesn't just mean that GM thinks Hyundai makes good cars, it means that GM thinks the general public thinks Hyundai makes good cars.

The design of this type of advertisement is to compare yourself favorably to a respected peer. If your advertising boasts that you're better than a something no one has any regard for ("The Mercedes-Benz S550 has more standard horsepower than the Chrysler Sebring!") you look foolish.

When your competitors respect you enough to put you in their ads, you've moved up in the world. Hyundai, welcome to the big leagues.