In India, the association of Bollywood celebrities and auto brands is not new. In all these years, we have seen several personalities from Bollywood being signed as brand ambassadors for car companies. The latest in the tradition is the...

In India, the association of Bollywood celebrities and auto brands is not new. In all these years, we have seen several personalities from Bollywood being signed as brand ambassadors for car companies. The latest in the tradition is the new association between Hyundai India and Deepika Padukone. Hyundai has now signed Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as its new brand ambassador.

In an official confirmation post on its social media channels, Hyundai India has released a picture which shows Deepika Padukone posing in front of a Hyundai Tucson. The signing of Deepika Padukone by Hyundai as its new brand ambassador has come at the right time, considering that the Korean car maker is expected to start 2024 with a bang with the much-awaited facelifted version of Creta. It is expected that the new brand ambassador will be an eminent part of the promotions and launch of the upcoming Hyundai Creta facelift.

Besides Deepika Padukone, Hyundai already has a long association with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who has been in the Hyundai family as its brand ambassador even since the Korean car maker started operating in India in 1998. Since Hyundai’s debut in India, Shah Rukh Khan has been the brand ambassador for the company, making him the longest-standing brand ambassador for a company in the country. At the launch of Ioniq 5 at the Auto Expo 2023, Shah Rukh Khan also jokingly commented that he was a part of the Hyundai family even before many of the top officials of the company.

In addition to the two prominent personalities from Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, Hyundai also roped in Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya as a brand ambassador exclusively for the Hyundai Exter sub-compact SUV. Launched in July, the marketing campaign of Hyundai Exter included Hardik Pandya promoting the sub-compact SUV, which went on to become the Indian Car Of The Year 2023.

Creta coming soon

In other news, Hyundai eyeing an eventful 2024, starting with the launch of the Creta facelift on January 16th. The current version of the Hyundai Creta has been on sale for almost four years, and with the facelift, Hyundai will be tweaking the exterior and introducing a few new features in the cabin of the SUV. Hyundai will also launch the facelifted version of Tucson sometime in 2024, while at the same time, there are reports that Hyundai is working on an all-electric version of Creta, which might replace the ageing Kona EV soon.

The updated Hyundai Creta, which has been launched in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, has received a 5-star safety rating in the ASEAN NCAP crash tests for both adult and child occupant protection.

During the tests, the facelifted Hyundai Creta scored well in adult occupant protection, providing good protection to the upper parts of the dummies in the front seats. However, there was only marginal protection for the driver’s chest area in the side impact test.

In terms of child occupant protection, the Creta performed decently when tested with child seats facing backward. The SUV received a satisfactory score in both front and side impacts.

Overall, considering both adult and child occupant safety, the facelifted Hyundai Creta scored 14.79 out of 21. The SUV also passed the tests for autonomous emergency braking and blind spot detection.

This 5-star safety rating for the facelifted Hyundai Creta is particularly noteworthy because the previous version of the SUV, currently available in India, received a 3-star rating in Global NCAP crash tests.

It’s important to note that this test was conducted before July 2022, so the results for side impact, safety assist systems, and pedestrian protection were not included. The Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq were the first SUVs tested under the new Global NCAP norms and both achieved impressive 5-star ratings.

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