We previously brought you a complete rundown of Hyundai’s Blue Link cloud-based, voice-activated infotainment suite, and now the company has released subscription pricing for the system’s three tiers. It debuts in the 2012 Sonata, which goes on sale next week. The service will be offered in three tiers: Assurance, Essentials, and Guidance. Buyers get six months of Blue Link Assurance free, and three months of Essentials and Guidance before a paid subscription is required. The hardware remains the same no matter which level you have activated.
OnStar-like Blue Link Assurance will cost $79 per year. Blue Link Essentials adds voice capability for text messaging plus a mobile app that allows owners to remotely lock/unlock the doors and start the engine, share their location, and schedule services; the cost is $179 for a one-year subscription. Lastly, the Blue Link Guidance package adds navigation functions, weather and traffic, restaurant ratings, and voice-based point of interest search to all the aforementioned services for $279 a year. The package can be ordered in models without touch screens, too, with turn-by-turn directions being displayed via arrows on the standard audio display. Buyers can purchase two- and three-year subscriptions for a slight discount over buying single-year contracts. Furthermore, Hyundai will double the free service periods for the various tiers if you sign up for an automatic subscription renewal.
Hyundai demonstrated Blue Link to us recently, and while nothing about the interface is groundbreaking—Ford’s Sync system, for example, already has many of Blue Link’s features and functionality—we can say that it works very well, with excellent voice recognition and reasonably quick audible menus. The Blue Link Guidance touch screen is snappy, exhibiting none of the lag, business, or slow pacing of Ford’s MyFord Touch, and Hyundai kept the same graphics and intuitive menu layout as its current, non-Blue Link navigation touch screen. After the 2012 Sonata, Blue Link will next pop up in the Veloster before making its way into the better part of Hyundai’s lineup by 2013.
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