I asked this as a ‘piggy back’ question six years ago and didn’t receive a reply.
As I said, I pronounce it ‘hunday’, which rhymes with Sunday, which explains the thread title. But I still think it looks like it should be pronounced ‘hyoon-dye’.
What is the correct pronunciation of Hyundai? I’m pretty sure it’s not ‘high-unn-dye’, as Cal Worthington used to pronounce it when they were new to the States.
The first syllable is “hyuhn”, rhymes with the English word “sun”. Second syllable is “da”; the vowel is somewhere between the vowels of English “dab” and “Deb”. Like many Korean names that were first written in the Latin alphabet not very recently, the spelling is somewhat haphazard.
Like everyone else I know and those on TV as well - I say it as Hi Un Die
Here in the UK, the adverts say Hie - Un - Die.
I’ve always pronounced it “Hyoon-die,” based on the spelling, but it’s been pronounced “Hun-day” in every ad I’ve heard.
It seems like the “hi un die” pronunciation is endemic to the same areas that pronounce Mazda “Mah-z-dah” instead of “Maw-z-duh.”
I’ve heard how they pronounce Nissan and Jaguar in the UK, so forgive me for being skeptical that it’s representative of the real pronunciation. 
I say Hyun-dye, and people I’ve noticed might say “hun” instead. I don’t know about the last syllable but the fact that I haven’t noticed suggests that dye and day are both in common use.
How long must we sing this song?
Anyway it seems to be hey-un-day here.
Yeah, but don’t you guys say ‘mazz-da’? 
And passs ta
Pronunciations can change due to local usage. Check out this 1970 Subaru commercial: - YouTube
Compare to this '76 commercial: Subaru 1976 TV commercial - YouTube
Both commercials were U.S. productions.
I believe an early commercial for Hyundai, intentionally used the word Sunday as an example of how to pronounce the name. At least, that is where I picked up the pronunciation and use it today.
Bob
This one’s definitely not early, it’s from the 2010 Superbowl. They do say “It’s Hyundai, like Sunday”, though.
Hyundai Motor Company has told us that the name rhymes with Sunday from the beginning of its appearance in the U.S. market. People who haven’t heard that have pronounced it in various incorrect ways from the beginning, as well.
Well, the pronunciation was officially always 1976 (or close enough). It’s unambiguous, although Wikipedia’s IPA seems suspect to me. Maybe the 1970’s ad company didn’t get the memo.
P.S. Subaru is Japanese for Pleiades (hence the logo), itself an ambiguous pronunciation in English.
Rainy days and Hyundais ALWAYS get me down.
I came here for the promise of a tale of roadkill. Not this…this…debate over pronunciation. I demand my money back!
Anyway, since I’m here…My sister had an 89 Excel as her 16th bday present. Nobody in our house would pronounce it the same way twice for the first year of having it. Though eventually settled on “your sister’s car” or “the red car”. A year after that and 25k miles, we traded it in for $600.
I lived in Korea pretty recently and we just heard “HUN-day.”
I can’t find it on YouTube but I vividly remember a local dealership ad with a salesman guy saying in a thick Italian-American accent, "It’s pronounced HUN-DAY, like Sunday or Monday…". I live in NY State and I think the dealership was in NYC or Long Island. The overall campaign only lasted a short time but the ads ran repeatedly for one summer in the mid-eighties, especially on late night TV.
According to Family Guy, it’s Hun-Day
