But when he got his new vehicle home, Kim says neighbors who he had always been on friendly terms with began to ignore him. "At first I took it as jealousy, but when they still weren't talking to me two weeks later, I began to think I may have made a mistake." he told reporters.
Hyundai has been criticized for the design of the Veloster, which differs significantly from that of other Korean cars. 54 year-old Professor Kim from Korea International University, an expert in the emerging field of 'difference studies', explained that "Traditionally Korean cars reflected the society that created them - they were functional, a little dull, and if looked at from a certain angle, possibly a little ugly. They came in three colors - silver, black and white - purely as a concession aimed at solving that perennial Korean problem of how you find your Hyundai Avante in a parking garage filled with a hundred other otherwise identical Hyundai Avantes - having three colors reduced the size of that task by two-thirds. But now Hyundai is designing radically different cars and painting them radically different colors, making people nervous."
While it appears that Hyundai is rejecting the safety-in-numbers approach to car design and adopting dangerous foreign ideas, it is not certain this breaches any national security laws, although some have speculated that those buying the vehicles might be.
Kim says he returned to the dealership to ask if they would take the car back, but staff there refused to speak to him.
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