Iggy Pop Hired to Drum Up Hyundai Sales to College Set

Hyundai does not sell little deuce coupes or pink Cadillacs, but that isn’t stopping the South Korean auto maker from looking to rock ‘n’ roll to put the beat back in its American car sales.

In an attempt to reach college-age car buyers, Hyundai Motor America said Wednesday that it has hired pop star Iggy Pop for a 20-campus concert tour in the eastern U.S. to promote its new Scoupe sports car.

The concert tour, which will run through October, comes as Hyundai seeks to forge a classier image to revive sagging U.S. sales. The campaign emphasizes the luxury features on Hyundai’s stylish new models, such as the $8,395 Scoupe, to try to dispel the image that Hyundai builds only low-priced, no-frills cars such as the Excel, which the car maker introduced four years ago.

But its low-cost reputation has given the Hyundai quite a bit of prominence among younger buyers, particularly college students. And it is is a lucrative market.

But reaching the college audience is easier said than done, Goren said. Most college students do not listen to drive-time radio and they are not regular television watchers. But they are avid pop music listeners.

Though Detroit car makers have sponsored such mainstream artists as the Beach Boys in the past, Hyundai is being a little more adventuresome. Iggy Pop, who will appear with the French rock group Mano Negra, is more associated with “punk” rock than the middle-of-the-road stuff.

With its U.S. sales slipping, Hyundai is apparently willing to take some chances. Hyundai’s share of the U.S. auto market has fallen from 2.6% in 1987 to 1.9% in the first eight months of 1990.