Hyundai/Kia seems to have an interesting strategy going on, at least with their regular cars (meaning everything except the genesis/genesis coupe). In the mainstream market, there seems to be two types of buyers, the people that just want a comfortable, quiet appliance of a car (that buy camry’s and corollas), and people who want something a little bit more interesting, and would buy hondas and nissans because they drove sharper, looked more agressive, etc.
Hyundai is going after the toyota buyers with softer, comfier cars, while using their Kia brand to go after the honda/nissan buyers. The changes are little more than sheetmetal and suspension tuning, but that is all it takes. If they can actually get quality product out there, and convince the buying populace, they are in an extremely advantageous position, without having to really compromise.
I gotta say, despite being a bit of a honda fanboy, I don’t like a single one of their current offerings. Nothing in the showroom excites me. Just waiting for kia to actually go balls-out and give us the turbo motor in a car with a clutch pedal, then they will likely have my money (or at least they will a few years after, so I can buy a lightly used one after it’s already depreciated).