Tweedehands Hyundai Ix35

Hyundai Motor was founded in 1967 by Chung Ju-yung, a construction magnate who had already built much of modern South Korea. Its first car, the 1975 Pony, was styled by Giugiaro and engineered with British help, and it made Hyundai the first Korean brand to export a car of its own design.

For decades Hyundai sold on price and warranty. Then, in the 2010s, it started hiring the best designers and engineers in the business, opened a European technical centre at the Nürburgring, and launched the N performance division. The i30 N and i20 N surprised everyone; the Ioniq 5 stunned them.

Today Hyundai is a top-three carmaker worldwide and arguably the most technically ambitious of the mainstream brands. The Ioniq 5, 6 and 9 use 800-volt architecture, the Kona, Tucson and Santa Fe cover the family ground, and the Ioniq 5 N proved that an electric car can be genuinely thrilling. Progress for humanity, and for the odd track day too.