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The snappy-looking little i20 hatch will be here within about two months, and a replacement for the Sonata sedan later in the year.
Those keen to see Hyundai’s i20 in local showrooms will not have to wait much longer.
The company’s local CEO, Edward Lee, has confirmed the snappy-looking little i20 hatch will be here within about two months, and a replacement for the Sonata sedan later in the year..
“It will arrive at the end of April or early in May,” Lee says of the i20. And this time, it will definitely follow through. Currency and supply issues stalled the arrival of the i20 late last year, but a shipload of them is already on the water – Australia-bound.
However it doesn’t mean the immediate end of the popular Getz - the best-selling nameplate in the Hyundai stable, challenged only by the i30 for a month last year.“We have decided to run the i20 alongside the Getz for this year,” Lee says, adding that it come in somewhere “close to $15,000”.
However he is not concerned about the $13,990 Getz’s eventual departure leaving Hyundai at a price point disadvantage with the arrival of cheaper cars like the $10,990 Proton S16. “We don’t want to be the ‘cheap car company’ at all,” Lee says. “Price point is very important but we are focusing on brand. Even if we discontinue Getz, the i20 will stand on its own.”
And if they do drop the Getz, will we see the i10 arrive in its place?“We have to make our other products successful first,” Lee says. “From now on we have to make sure every car is a success. But if we think this is the right market for the i10…”
Similarly, Hyundai Australia will not look at bringing the slick Genesis Coupe until it judges the success of the incoming replacement for the Sonata – codenamed the YF, and likely to be called the i50. “There has been a lot of interest in the Genesis coupe,” Lee says. “But before we look at it, we have to make the YF successful.”
On reports that the right-hand drive program for the Genesis was on the verge of official confirmation, Lee would only say that Hyundai HQ “has spoken to all markets. If the factory says yes to right-hand drive, and if we decide to bring the Coupe, it will come after the YF.”
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