By Alex Nunez on April 2, 2010 in
As Hyundai continues the ongoing revamp of its lineup, one of the new models it will add later this year hopes to play in the same sandbox as the likes of Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW. Even five years ago, the thought of this would have been preposterous, but after last year's introduction of the critically well-received Genesis sedan, it's no longer an outlandish proposition.
Yesterday at the 2010 New York Auto Show, the 2011 Hyundai Equus luxury sedan was formally introduced in its U.S.-spec trim (it's already sold in Hyundai's home market, where the Equus nameplate has a well-established history). While the news of Hyundai offering an over-$50,000 luxury sedan is noteworthy on its own, one of the more interesting announcements associated with the car's unveiling surrounded, of all things, its owner's manual. Or, more accurately, its lack of one -- at least in the traditional sense. Tablet mania, you see, has now infiltrated the auto sector.
Today's owner's manuals are pretty ridiculous.
Modern cars are more technically complex than ever. It's out of sheer necessity, then, that owners' manuals have become excessively large. In many cases, they're thick, brick-like volumes (sometimes more than one) that take up much of a car's glovebox space. A few years back, I had the opportunity to drive the Rolls-Royce Phantom, whose three-inch-thick owner's manual was around a thousand pages long. It was so large, in fact, that it was actually stored in the trunk. Similarly, I tested a Porsche Cayenne SUV back in 2008, and the manual for the entertainment system alone was over 200 pages long. So, you get the point -- it's like tree armageddon.
Hyundai's tablet is more than just a computerized owner's manual.
In the case of the Equus, Hyundai will instead provide owners with a "multimedia tablet" pre-loaded loaded with a digital owner's manual. (Despite numerous reports calling the device an Apple iPad, Hyundai was careful to use generic terminology when referring to this Equus tablet at its New York press conference. No technology partner has been announced yet, and the actual tablet was not present at the press conference.) In addition to having the pre-loaded owner's manual, customers will be able to use an app installed on the tablet to schedule their service visits.
Look for digital owner's manuals to become commonplace
Hyundai deftly surfed onto the iPad's imminent-release hype wave with yesterday's announcement of the Equus's tablet-based owner's manual, but in truth, we see this type of thing becoming the norm before long. As more cars get sophisticated multimedia systems with large digital displays and hard drive-based onboard storage, look for the manuals to come pre-loaded whenever doing so is possible. The current BMW 7 Series does exactly this; the owner's manual is accessible on-screen via the car's iDrive multimedia interface. It's very straightforward (I've tried it). Automakers are likely to move in this direction in general, as not having to print owner's manuals is a way to save money and burnish "green" cred at the same time.
It'd be really cool if...
While BMW's in-car, digitized owner's manual is neat, by going with a standalone multimedia device, Hyundai could conceivably do some very cool things. For example, instead of static pages showing how certain features operate, a multimedia tablet should afford Hyundai the opportunity to present this sort of info in a much richer format. For example, a video demonstrating how to enter a destination into the nav system, or how to safely position the jack in the event of a tire failure. It'll be really interesting to see how far Hyundai winds up going with it. The tablet could merely be gimmicky, or, if executed well, it could be a truly innovative use of the technology. We'll find out in due course.