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Hyundai 2019 Super Bowl ad has Jason Bateman as Hell-evator operator

The minute-long spot for Hyundai's Shopper Assurance program compares traditional car shopping to root canals and jury duty.

Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
Kyle Hyatt
2 min read

launched its Shopper Assurance program back at the end of 2017, and it's been quietly pushing the service as a way to remove a big chunk of the car shopping process' inherent weirdness. For 2019, it's ratcheting up that message with its newest ad set to air during the Super Bowl: The Elevator.

The minute-long ad spot, which announced on Tuesday and will air during the first quarter of the big game, stars actor, producer and director Jason Bateman as an elevator operator ferrying people to what we can only assume is some kind of Dante's Inferno-like hell of life's awkward moments. It also features the brand's new family-minded three-row SUV, the 2020 Hyundai Palisade.

"We understand that shopping for a new car is typically something people don't look forward to," said Dean Evans, chief marketing officer for Hyundai Motor America, in a statement. "However, our dealers are using Shopper Assurance as a North Star in helping evolve and improve the retail experience. This year's Super Bowl spot communicates the program in a fun, lighthearted way that viewers will relate to."

Hyundai's Shopper Assurance -- in case you forgot -- is a mostly-online four-step process that takes weird haggling and long dealer visits out of the equation. Dealers post the best price of their vehicles minus any incentives and buyers can select the example that best fits their needs, then schedule what Hyundai calls a "Flexible Test Drive."

The "Flexible Test Drive" is a lot like a regular test drive except that you don't need to go to the dealership to do it. You schedule it online, then arrange a place for the vehicle to be dropped off (within reason, natch) where you can then take it and put it through its paces.

Finally, if all that stuff works out and you decide that you simply have to have some of South Korea's finest engineering parked in your driveway, you can do most of the paperwork online in advance of your actual dealer visit for paper signing and other legal stuff. Cool, right?

Watch more Super Bowl commercials here

2020 Hyundai Palisade SUV is big in Korea, and everywhere else

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