We know commercials often play on the limit of what’s morally acceptable, and sometimes even cross into the blatant lie zone, so we’re always circumspect during the commercial break.
However, this Hyundai Tucson advertisement is so out there, you can’t help but wonder whether those who made it realize just how funny it is. I mean, really, do they actually expect us to buy a single bit of the things happening there?
Every carmaker is now trying to find new ways of promoting the new features of its car, and this is leading to some strange things like that vertical street that Kia used to demonstrate its MPV’s great safety rating, for example.
Hyundai isn’t taking it any easier and has come up with what it calls a sand circuit: basically a very narrow canyon made out of sand, through which the new Tucson can demonstrate its great dynamic abilities and exquisite handling. You know, Tucson, the Koreans' compact SUV...
After a few failed tries that resulted in the car getting stuck under a pile of sand - which prompted a shovel-powered rescue team intervention - the circuit is rebuilt (on the Tokol Airport in Budapest, Hungary), and everything is set for another go.
The open top tunnel can’t be more than five feet (1.5 meters) wider than the car itself, and it comes with a set of wide turns to navigate through. But the all-new Tucson clears it with just a minor bump that folds the left-hand side mirror.
One second later, the Tucson emerges victorious out of the canyon, with the mirror miraculously folded back into place. But just when we think it’s over, a new tunnel - this time completely covered, like any tunnel should be - we knew nothing about emerges, and the Tucson driver breezes through it with ease, with help from the new headlights.
The guys building the circuit thought it would be fun to leave a large loader lying just in front of the tunnel’s exit, where the driver’s eyes haven’t had time to adjust to the outside light, so he’s got the minimum chances of seeing it. Fret not, our man avoids the crash and also performs a powerslide as a result.
And just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any more surreal, the driver goes back and does the sand circuit again. In reverse. Don’t worry, he’s got a rearview camera, so it’s OK.
I swear I haven’t had such a good laugh in a while. Check it out for yourself below.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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