Hyundai Sponsors
Rally Amsterdam-Beijing
4 August 2006
• 20 Tucsons, Terracans
and Santa Fes in an all-out endurance test
(Seoul, Korea) ) A transcontinental classic
car rally from Amsterdam to Beijing is being sponsored by
Greenib Car, Hyundai’s distributor for the Netherlands
which is supplying twenty units of the Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai
Tucson and Hyundai Terracan as support vehicles.
About 100 classic cars are participating in
the Classic Endurance Rally Amsterdam-Beijing, an all-out
endurance test of as much as 17.650 kilometres. The Rally
started on July 15th at Dam Square, in the centre of Amsterdam,
and will finish on August 11th at Tiananmen Square in the
capital of China, Beijing. The participants are halfway now
and will soon enter China.
Twenty Hyundai support vehicles are being used
by the organisation of the rally to escort the more than 100
participants in their classic cars which by regulation must
be at least 30 years old to qualify. The Hyundais, all 4WD
vehicles, are equipped with a Track & Trace system. Some
are being used as fully equipped mobile workshops, some cars
function as emergency service. And some cars are being used
by the press people.
All cars participating in the Rally are older
than 30 years and that means a heavy responsibility for the
organisation team that, fortunately, is using new Hyundai’s
for transportation. Greenib Car Managing Director Geert Vermeer
is happy with Hyundai’s participation: “I am very
glad that Hyundai is our partner during this rally. Hyundai
is one of the best car manufacturers in the world. In the
recent J.D. Power quality investigation in the USA Hyundai
was third, just behind Porsche and Lexus. And this achievement
is proving the quality and reliability of Hyundai cars. Until
now the cars are doing a great job. Many of the classic cars,
although they have been prepared for this rally, had to be
repaired. While the Hyundai’s, that are coming straight
out of the showroom, are performing very well.
The participants are half way now. They started
in the Netherlands, crossed Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania,
Bulgary and Turkey. After that they went through countries
like Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The day before yesterday the convoy passed Kazakhstan before
reaching the borders of China. From the borders they have
to drive another 6.000 kilometres to Beijing.
“The route of the rally is quite spectacular”
according to Vermeer. “We are driving a big part of
the so-called classic Silk route, the centuries-old commercial
route between Europe and Asia. For the participating teams
the rally is a childhood dream that is coming true”.
The participants are making 10 to 12 hour days
in their cars. The heat (sometimes even reaching 40 degrees
Celsius outside the cars), the demanding roads and lack of
sleep are the most important opponents for the convoy. On
the other hand, everywhere they come, the very friendly inhabitants
are cheering and waving to the participants.
For more information have a look at: www.abr2006.nl.
Rally news is broadcast daily around 20:00 on RTL7 in the
Netherlands and is receiving daily coverage by national broadcaster
CCTV5 in China.
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Co. has
grown into the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group which was ranked
as the world’s sixth largest automaker in 2005 and includes
over two dozen auto-related subsidiaries and affiliates. Employing
over 68,000 people worldwide, Hyundai Motor posted US$58.1
billion in sales in 2005 (on a consolidated basis). Hyundai
vehicles are sold in 193 countries through some 5000 dealerships
and showrooms. Further information about Hyundai Motor Co.
and its products is available at http://www.hyundai-motor.com
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