Hyundai I20 2014 News

The company is closely guarding images of the new ix35 — the replacement for the Tucson compact SUV — until its official unveiling at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month but it will owe much of its styling to the sexy ix-onic Concept displayed at the Geneva show earlier this year. "It is really attractive and it is closer in reality to its concept than a lot of others I have seen," Hyundai Australia's director for sales and marketing, Kevin McCann says. "I think, in that segment, people are starting to look for aesthetics. "They no longer want the chunky styling anymore but are looking for something that is sleek and fluid and slim-lined. This car certainly offers that." The ix35 will also be the launch platform for a range of new technologies to Hyundai including stop and go engine management, a family of double-clutch gearboxes for the two- and four-wheel drive platform and at least one new 1.6-litre four-cylinder direct injection petrol engine with an impressive 130kW output. "They are all things that we are looking at, although not everything is available to us," McCann says. "For example, ISG (idle engine stop/start) is only made in the Eastern European factory for the European market. "We would have to guarantee the factory in Korea sufficient demand for those items to justify them being made there, but that is something we are working on." While McCann would not be specific about which engine, gearbox and drivetrain combinations would be offered in Australia he did confirm that the new generation engines were part of the planning along with the new generation of transmissions. The Tucson is the company's third-best selling model behind the Getz and the i30 and McCann knows there can be no mistakes with its replacement when it arrives towards the middle of next year. "The compact SUV segment is an important part of our volume base," McCann says. "We do very well there right now because we are at the lower end of the price band for those SUVs. I think there is a natural ceiling at which you can price a Tucson, but with the new ix35 we will be able to have a very solid entry-level competitor and the design of the car will enable us to offer a wider range across the price band. We will be able to richen our mix considerably with it." That is likely to mean upward pressure on the larger Santa Fe, a heavily revised version of which will also be unveiled at the Frankfurt show. "This (the Santa Fe upgrade) is quite significant," McCann says. "We are respecifying some aspects of the car but I can't really give you the details of that right now." If the highly-specified ix35 is moved up-market into a price-range currently occupied by an entry-level Santa Fe the outcome is likely to be an opportunity for Hyundai to offer the new Santa Fe in less models but with a higher level of standard inclusions. The ix35 styling comes from the same team at the company's European design centre near Frankfurt which penned the i30. Speaking of the ix-onic concept in Geneva, design boss Thomas Buerkle said: "This is a dynamic sculpture ... it is an urban nomad. It is the new generation of SUV; a car of contrasts for a world of contrasts." Slightly larger than the Tucson at 4.4m long, the ix-onic was designed specifically for the European market with the target of younger buyers.  

"There has not been too much forward progress ... it is still the subject of a fair bit of hard work and analysis," Hyundai Australia's director for sales and marketing, Kevin McCann, says. "We still have the strong intention to launch the car in the very near future but it is a very complex process. "There was a decision made to get the car. That decision has not been unmade but we do have to get through some issues and challenges before we can implement it." While insisting that the i20 will be launched as soon as possible, McCann concedes that the arrival of the small-car sibling to the company's highly successful i30 models could be delayed until the middle of next year. "There is an outside risk that it could take that long — and I certainly wouldn't step back from that," McCann says. "The stated plan is still for later this year but that goal is becoming more elusive as time goes on." The major stumbling block to getting the i20 — designed at Hyundai's Russelsheim studio in German and built at the Chennai plant in India — is negotiating a factory exit price that will keep the car competitive in the Australian market. "It definitely comes down to the very tiny gap between the cost of the car (out of the factory) and the price of the car (in Australia)," McCann says. "We have said before that we see it as head to head with the volume end of the segment — that being the leading Japanese models (Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and Honda Jazz) — and that continues to be the strategy. The Getz will remain a fixture at the price-leader end of the market." McCann confirmed that for Australia, unlike most world markets where the i20 has replaced the Getz, the new model will take the place of the slow-selling Accent. While conceding that the delays in the i20 were disappointing, McCann is adamant that Hyundai has not missed the boat with regard to the opportunity to leverage off the success of the i30. "It is not a segment in which people will wait, but neither is it a segment where you will miss out on people forever if they choose not to wait," McCann says. "There are always new buyers coming into the market and I don't believe a delay of three or four months from the original plan is going to cause us to lose a volume opportunity. "It is taking longer than we would want, but at the same time we have some other exciting new models that we will have to fit in as well." One of the most crucial new models is the replacement for the Tucson compact SUV, the ix35 which will highlight the company's new design language as highlighted on the ix-onic concept car at the Geneva motor show earlier this year. The ix35 is expected to arrive in Australia early next year after its official unveiling at the Frankfurt motor show in September. Also due early next year is part of the next generation of the Sonata mid-sized car. The sleek sedan/coupe developed for the US market will be the first of the models to arrive and will be followed later in the year by the i50-badged sportwagon model developed specifically for European markets. Towards the end of next year Hyundai is also expected to launch the sub-mini i10 into Australia.  

It, and fellow Korean sister Kia, have improved their build quality in recent years. Now the engineering product is standing up among the more recognised car manufacturers.The i30 small car won our 2007 Carsguide car of the year and Hyundai has not stopped there.Its new premium Genesis saloon is winning best-car awards in North America and we can look forward to other new models soon to be launched in Australia.They include the Genesis Coupe, the i20 small car and the i30cw which is a roomier wagon version of the hatch on which it is based.The Genesis Coupe and the i30cw will be unveiled at the Melbourne Motor Show from the end of this month.The coupe will be offered with a two-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a 3.8-litre V6 tuned to a big 231kW, and this in a rear-wheel-drive sporty with stability control, traction control and keyless entry.The i30cw wagon is 320mm longer and 40mm taller than the i30 hatchback and on a slightly longer wheelbase. It aims to offer more room for rear seat passengers and luggage and so is a better proposition for small families.The i20 will be a small hatchback, on sale here in the third quarter of this year, boasting technology usually found in larger, more costly cars. It will be fuel efficient and, for its size, have a relatively long wheelbase.Hyundai has grown to be one of the world's biggest car makers and sits in the top 10 most popular makes in Australia.Vfacts figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show last year it sold more than 45,000 new cars in Australia, putting it as eighth biggest-selling brand and ahead of Subaru and Volkswagen.