Sturridge plays for Liverpool and England and earns (according to the Daily Mirror) £80,000 per week. If he works 5 days a week, like the rest of us, that's £16,000 a day. The Hyundai he's just been given for free has a list price of £30,000.
So, Hyundai have given a footballer, who earns £4,160,000 a year, a free car that would take him 1.9 days worth of salary to earn enough to buy outright. Apparently his parents have driven a Hyundai Santa Fe since 2004. Sturridge himself is reported to have said this,
"The Santa Fe is a great vehicle. I think my parents' one has now done nearly 100,000 miles and it hasn't missed a beat. My mum used to drive me to all my games in it when I was younger so it has a special place in my heart. The New Generation Santa Fe has certainly improved on all the qualities of the old model - space, practicality - but it now looks and feels so much more modern and premium. I am really looking forward to spending some time behind the wheel."
Which is all a complete lie. Sturridge didn't write that - someone in Hyundai PR did. He won't drive it, apart from for photo opportunities. He'll buy a Bentley or Range Rover and clad it with a orange camouflage wrap or something else equally hideous.
This is a non-story that will be reported as fact. The fact is Hyundai pay an already wealthy young man to be seen in their cars - and then get all the usual outlets to report that they've handed over the keys to a new Santa Fe him.
He doesn't care about Hyundai apart from the money they give him. The Santa Fe he's been given will do 41mpg. He can put fuel in his new car to drive 123,000 miles on a single day's salary.
The only losers in this scenario are the public for wasting their time reading about it, and Hyundai customers who are paying for their cars a month at a time on finance schemes - and are also paying for a multi-millionaire to be given a free car.
