THE AUTOMOTIVE YEAR: Car Company of 2014

In a year when it launched an $82,000 rear-drive flagship sedan, Hyundai is our pick for Car Company of the Year for 2014.

Although the last selling days of the year are still drawing to a close, there's every reason to believe the burgeoning Korean brand will cement its year-to-date November ranking as the third largest selling Down Under. That's a move up from fourth in 2013 but as far back as eighth in 2006.

The rise has not been meteoric, more a steady inevitable infiltration of the new car marketplace and local consumers' hearts and minds.

And if there was any doubt that the brand had moved beyond its cheap and not all that cheerful routes, they were dispelled with this year's arrival of the three-grade Genesis premium large sedan range. There's no better indication of the brand's confidence than the car's $60,000 starting price of high-side of $60K.

But there are other reasons beyond sales and a new flagship. Hyundai products are more consistent in terms of presentation, performance and feel. Dare I say it; they are starting to build a character of their own.

And the people behind the brand are evolving from 'just' being engineers and product planners, to being 'real car guys'... Of both genders! You need to look no further than the fact that earlier this year we broke the news of the company's first skunk-works project – a mid-engined turbo Veloster that the company simply HAS to build as a production car...

Locally there's a serious focus on volume but equally there is serious brand building with a new CI (corporate identity) rolling out to dealerships and a desire to do things differently – especially at the coal face.

Once again it's telling that Hyundai is the brand Toyota fears most in this marketplace. And once the force-feeding of local cars exits the Aussie marketplace, there's one other brand that needs to keeps its wits about it too, lest Hyundai move up another rung.

The company still needs the Megane and Koleos to perform better Down Under, but the Captur shows the brand can build stylish SUVs and the Clio is a viable alternative to the default German and Asian light-car choices.

Renault already outsells the other Frenchies combined, but if the brand gets a ute and other models it's been promised, its current trajectory could move it to relevance in the Australian marketplace.