Hyundai to go football crazy with FIFA-themed in-car screens
No word yet on whether it'll be one-size-fits-all 2026 World Cup branding or whether England fans could have a red-and-white St George's Cross tinge to their in-car screens – assuming the team qualifies. These digital tweaks will certainly be more fuel-efficient than football fans plastering their cars in drag-creating flags that hammer the fuel economy but we worry about the residual value if an England-themed Hyundai found its way to a dealer in Scotland, for example. Advertisement - Article continues below
Football isn't the only theme Hyundai is considering – a tie-up with licence-holders for cartoon strip Peanuts is also on the cards, meaning Charlie Brown and Snoopy could be hitching a ride in Hyundais soon.
See how much you can save on a connected Hyundai in the Auto Express Find a Car digital marketplace, where you can buy or lease new cars, browse thousands of used models and even sell your current car .
It's all part of a new battleground in the automotive value chain: in-car purchases. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
Hyundai's new flagship EV, the Ioniq 9 SUV, has three digital upgrades coming to the UK in August 2025: a version of the Ioniq 5 N's virtual gearshift operated by the 9's brake paddles and six new lighting patterns as you approach the car. Both are set to cost around £100. Two alternative infotainment displays, one inspired by nature and the other a retro take referencing the 1975 Hyundai Pony, will be free downloads.
More broadly appealing will be the roll-out of an entertainment package around the turn of 2026: owners will be able to upgrade and watch streaming services such as Disney+ or Netflix while they charge their cars.
In-car payments – already enabled in the USA and Germany – will also come to the UK, around the turn of 2025. The first scheduled service is paying for location-based parking with a couple of infotainment clicks, with the session terminating as the car leaves the parking garage. Expect to see this extended to fuelling your car and paying for road tolls too – once UK service partners have been secured. Advertisement - Article continues below
Hyundai aims to roll out 2-3 big updates a year, the firm's director of connected car services Guido Gehlen told Auto Express. The car maker starts with a small sample of cars, then when it's satisfied the update is trouble-free scales it up over a few months.
Google Places – which adds information such as user ratings, images and opening hours to shops and attractions – has been updated into the navigation system on connected versions of the Kona, Ioniq 5, Santa Fe and Tucson.
Gehlen's team has added emergency vehicle alert to connected Hyundais and Kias in the Netherlands.
Every ambulance, police car and fire engine is tracked on a government database, which has been plumbed into the navigation system. As a result, drivers should be better able to avoid that confusion of trying to work out which direction an emergency siren is coming from, to quicker clear a path when necessary.
And the alert system could work the other way, enabling Hyundais to feed back information to the authorities about shocking potholes. 'The Netherlands would like camera and suspension data about the quality of streets,' says Gehlen. 'It's more complicated because we have to anonymise the data but we are working on it. You could take the information from one car and share it with the whole fleet.'
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Find a car with the experts MG4 and MGS5 EV prices slashed in reply to Government Electric Car Grant
MG4 and MGS5 EV prices slashed in reply to Government Electric Car Grant
In order to boost sales, MG is announcing its own a £1,500 grant for some of its EVs Chinese cars will take over as Britain's best sellers
Chinese cars will take over as Britain's best sellers
With a dramatic rise in sales, Mike Rutherford thinks it's only a matter of time before Chinese cars outsell all other countries in the UK Roll over diesel: EVs are now doing the big mileage in the UK
Roll over diesel: EVs are now doing the big mileage in the UK
The average UK electric car now covers more than 10,000 miles per year, a similar amount to the average diesel.
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