[HelenTay]

By Jill Reilly
PUBLISHED: 21:49 GMT, 10 May 2012



Watch the video here: http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?1...i30-Commercial

Hyundai's new family hatchback was put to the ultimate test at Knowsley Safari Park, in Merseyside,
where the baboons are well known for mobbing visitors' motors. That is precisely what Korean car
maker Hyundai did when it wanted to discover how its new i30 hatchback would withstand the ordeal
of so many inquisitive minds, prying fingers and sticky paw marks.

The automotive monkey-business was inspired by another great mind – Wayne Rooney – whose
£80,000 Audi was damaged by the mob when the footballer visited the park last year.

The Hyundai was handed over to the troop for ten hours and left unattended. Designers wanted to
see how the finish would stand up to the kind of punishment the average child might inflict during
the car’s lifetime.

‘Safari park monkeys are particularly good at discovering weak points on cars and
then pulling, prodding and tearing at the parts until they break,’ said Hyundai project manager Felicity
Wood.

Result: a few scrapes, lots of smears and finger marks, a dislodged rubber door seal that was rejected
as a snack, plus some tooth marks in the steering wheel. The good news: no one stole the alloys.