Hyundai's Logo Secretly Shows Two People Shaking Hands

Automakers often look for fun ways to include hidden messages and deeper meanings in their logos or model names. Take Audi's four rings, which represent four companies that merged to form Audi, or BMW's propeller logo, which isn't a propeller at all. While it's not a thought process all carmakers subscribe to — for example, TVR stands forthrightly for founder Trevor Wilkinson's first name — Korean giant Hyundai is in on the hidden-meaning action.

While an "H" in an oval seems like a perfectly sensible decision for an automaker with a brand name beginning with H — it certainly works for Honda (sans oval) — Hyundai is adamant that the logo also shows two people shaking hands. Once you see it, it's pretty clear, although their Michael Jackson-esque stances are a little unusual. Hyundai says one of the fine folk in its logo is a company representative, the other a satisfied customer. The oval they find themselves in represents Hyundai's global presence.

There's a hidden meaning behind the word "Hyundai," too. Well, not so much a hidden meaning, but an actual meaning, as the Korean word stands for "modern" or "modernity." Hyundai says this definition "neatly fits with the brand's progressive spirit," and given the company's explosive innovation in recent years, we're inclined to agree.

Founded in 1947 as an engineering and construction firm, Hyundai has a history that goes back a little further than you might think. The company began making cars in the 1960s, which brought an automotive logo: a stylized "HD." That was what adorned the Hyundai Pony, the first mass-produced Korean car exported across the globe, when it arrived in 1975. (Hyundai revived and electrified an old Pony just a few years ago.) The stylized H in an oval didn't show up until 1992 — some six years after the first Hyundai Excel models were sold in the U.S., and two years after the brand started designing a slanted H in an oval. These things take time.

As time progressed, the logo was tweaked a little here and there, with the most notable change a color shift from dark blue to a shiny metallic silver finish. That shiny finish was replaced in the 2020s by a simpler, more modern, minimalist monochrome finish, but the shine from Hyundai's offerings is only getting brighter. A total of 836,802 Hyundais were sold in the U.S. in 2024, up 4% from the previous year, and sales are even stronger so far this year. So we don't doubt that company representatives have been shaking a lot of hands with satisfied customers.