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Interest in Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese two-way 'baseball genius' (Los Angeles Angels), has been rising, and it has recently become a hot topic that he favored the Hyundai Sonata.

Earlier, the Japanese magazine Weekly FLASH reported in May 2018 with the headline, "Shohei Ohtani's commuting car is a Korean-made sedan costing only 2 million yen (about 19.89 million KRW)."

Shohei Ohtani, a baseball player for the LA Angels. [Photo by Online Community]

Photos taken at the time showed Ohtani either sitting in or getting out of the passenger seat of a Sonata vehicle.

It is said that this was a car directly chosen by Ohtani and provided by the team. According to the report, a team official suggested, "Wouldn't a bigger and sturdier car be better?" but Ohtani declined.

The media stated, "The car is decided according to the player's request, and Ohtani even said that a Hyundai sedan costing about 2 million yen is a good car." They also added, "Ohtani did not have a driver's license, so he sat in the passenger seat while a Japanese interpreter drove."

Since he did not have a license, the interpreter drove, and Ohtani always sat in the passenger seat. The reason was that he thought sitting in the back seat was not polite.

It is known that Ohtani used this vehicle until he obtained his driver's license in 2019.

Ohtani transferred to the LA Angels after the 2017 season. At that time, Ohtani was 23 years old and signed a minor league contract under Major League Baseball's 'under 25 overseas player contract' rule.

Accordingly, he received an annual salary of 60 million yen (about 596.71 million KRW), but his estimated value in the current U.S. sports market exceeds 60 billion KRW per year.

It was also said, "Ohtani spends 100,000 yen (about 990,000 KRW) per month, which is an allowance from his parents," and "He hardly uses it and saves most of it."

Using a Tesla vehicle, Otani [Photo by Online Community]

After obtaining his license, Ohtani used a Tesla vehicle and is currently known to be using a Porsche vehicle through a sponsorship with Porsche.

Meanwhile, Ohtani realized something that could only be seen in manga in real life at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) and earned the honor of Most Valuable Player (MVP).