Capturing Hyundai Motor Company’s journey toward humanity and its warm perspective Hyundai Motor Company’s heritage magazine, “RETRACE Magazine” This heritage magazine archives Hyundai Motor Company’s history, revisiting its iconic models, while exploring the directions to pursue amid the transformation toward electrification and future mobility. STELLAR & SONATA A family trip to the beach, a weekend drive with friends. In a time when people longed to share everyday moments, Hyundai Motor created cars made for riding together. To bring better cars to more people, it pioneered new technologies, explored bold designs, and forged paths into the unknown to open new roads. When recalling the relationships that truly lasted, whose face comes to mind first? A family member who’s always been there, a friend who walked beside us, or someone with whom emotions were shared. These connections might be taken for granted sometimes, but they’re special because they’ve been a deep part of changes in life. The STELLAR and the SONATA, too-they’ve been companions on the road; familiar cars that paved the way, helping us go farther. Just as they’ve been deeply connected to Hyundai Motor’s journey, we hope they’ve also become cherished memories in people’s lives. In a time when connection is instant but fleeting, we are revisiting the meaning and value of relationships that stand the test of time through the STELLAR and the SONATA. Hyundai Motor’s heritage is about rediscovering an era that lived by automobiles, and sharing inspiration for a future shaped by mobility going further. Over the past six decades, guided by our founding belief in sharing better cars with more people, our journey has been intertwined with millions of lives. Looking back on the path we’ve traveled with our customers is more than history-it’s what drives us towards a better tomorrow for humanity.

Timeless Growing deeper over the years Generation Ever in motion Base The first chapter in trial and proof Moment In a page of our history Timeline Across times and memories Diary How is your “S” doing? Voice As it was known then Fortitude Crossing borders, reaching further Essential Always with us Memory Everyday on the road Companion The shared time that connect us Trace Once new, now familiar Glovebox What’s in my glovebox? Filmography Playing the era, on the road Crew How we enjoy the SONATA Inheritors What long history has proven

Growing deeper over the years
Timeless
Jung Woosung

I remember the evening when my father came home in his new SONATA, and even the weekends when my mother taught me how to drive. And every time I went on a long road trip with friends, the SONATA was always there with us. (…)

What does a car mean to a family? How different would Korea be in the 1980s compared to after the 2020s? My father, once in his forties, is now in his seventies. I, once a grade-schooler, am now in my mid-forties. My old friend and I, the same old pair, have planned to meet at a shopping mall with our wives and children. We’ll likely spend the whole day chasing after our kids, too busy and exhausted to sit for a cup of coffee. When can we go on that glamping trip we promised? Realizing that these ordinary moments in life are the most precious feels like a gift of time. And one day, out of the blue, we’ll call each other and ask, “All’s well, right?” We’ll see how we’re all the same and gain the strength to keep moving forward.


The first chapter in trial and proof
Base
Song Jaeeun

The SONATA is now such an essential and indispensable part of the Korean automotive market; how did its innovation begin? What made the SONATA as we fondly remember-a family’s first car, a taxi transporting citizens through their daily routines, and a police car safeguarding the public-began with the STELLAR. In the early 1980s, when the domestic mid-size sedan market was heavily reliant on overseas brands, Hyundai Motor engineered and produced a proprietary model with the STELLAR. Tracing this journey, we find at its starting point the philosophy of Founding Chairman Chung Ju-yung to deliver better cars, at a more reasonable price, to more people. Forty years ago, when Korea’s automotive market was full of uncertainty, the technical drawings created painstakingly with our own hands were anything but a given.


In a page of our history
Moment
Lee Donghee

The STELLAR and the SONATA have been with us at pivotal and ordinary moments of South Korea’s modern history. Not only have they become part of countless personal memories, but they have also marked significant milestones in Hyundai Motor’s technological evolution across generations. As the longest-running passenger car in the company’s lineup, the SONATA holds all of our time and memories within its legacy. Simply by sharing these stories, we bridge generations and breathe new meaning into long-standing relationships that may be taken for granted.


How is your “S” doing?
Diary
Park Hanbitnuri

The late 1990s-techno rhythms pulsed through the streets, jeans grew baggier, and the so-called “Orange Tribe”-stylish, well-off young people-filled the streets of Apgujeong Rodeo. But beyond the glamor, kitchen tables across the country were covered with economic headlines and college entrance exam prediction charts side by side. From the existing Academic Achievement Test to the renewed College Scholastic Ability Test, from the No. 2 pencil to marking pens-the educational system had changed, and the college entrance process had become more complicated. The college entrance exam was a battle, but for many, it was also a way out. Many believed that academic success could free them from their unstable reality. A ridiculous rumor went around: peeling the “S” off the back of a SONATA and sticking it on your desk would get you into Seoul National University, the most sought-after school in Korea. We were innocent enough to place our hopes in an uncertain future.


Crossing borders, reaching further
Fortitude
Rah Yoonsuk

The ability to design and manufacture a car entirely within a company is a testament not only to its capabilities but also to the nation’s industrial maturity. An automobile packed with cutting-edge Korean engineering, traveling across the globe-this was precisely what Hyundai Motor had long envisioned for the industry, inspired by the words of its Founding Chairman Chung Ju-yung: “A car is a symbol of the nation like the national flag.” That is why advancing into overseas markets with the SONATA, built entirely with Hyundai’s proprietary technology and design, carried such significance. Here, we explored the journey of the SONATA, pioneering the “bigger target” that was the North American market. To give you a sneak peek, it was marked by painful setbacks even with meticulous preparations.


Everyday on the road
Memory
Jeong Hyunji

Just like the variety of cars on the road, we all have our own memories of a car. Playing word chain games with your sister in the back seat, riding in your mom’s car on the way to a supermarket on the weekends, or that day you go a nerve-racking road trip with friends- the SONATA has been by our side for 40 years, which is why the car that once belonged to our fathers might later become our very first car. We asked eight people who cherish special memories with the SONATA. “Shall we revisit those days, just for a moment?”


What’s in my glovebox?
Glovebox
Choi Haeun

The glovebox, a small drawer inside a car. In the early days of automobiles, when cars didn’t have roofs, driving gloves weren’t just a stylish accessory but a necessity during winter. This is how a small compartment installed in front of the passenger seat for storing gloves earned its name. Even as cars evolved to feature roofs and windows, the glovebox remains in place with the same name. We may not open it often, but inside the box are fragments of our daily lives and memories we gathered along our trips. Let’s take a look at the personal items and memorable stories shared by twelve car owners.

What long history has proven
Inheritors
Ji Jeonghyeon

The depth of a relationship strikes you at unexpected moments. Once the times spent together accumulate and we trace the marks left behind, we suddenly realize just how many moments have been shared together. Some companions always remain by our side, and their presence feels self-evident, becoming the pillars holding up our present. The journey that began with the STELLAR continued with the SONATA, and throughout the years, Hyundai Motor has stayed by our side like a lifelong friend. Looking back on those shared moments, we imagine the future journeys to be taken together.