Hyundai I30 2010 News

A successful Nurburgring 24 hour trial and new RM16 concept point the way to possible 2017 launch of hot Hyundai N brand.

Hyundai recalls HD Elantra models due to risk of losing steering assistance. The Hyundai i30and Elantra are being recalled due to a potential electric power steering fault that could increase the steering effort required to control the car, which could be hazardous.If the problem occurs, Hyundai advises that an electronic power steering (EPS) light will illuminate on the vehicle’s dashboard.The vehicles affected were sold in Australia between the start of November 2009 and the end of April 2010.More specifically, the recall affects Elantras with VINs (Vehicle Identification Number) ranging between KMHDU41DAAU929998 and KMHDT41B9BU084665. The i30 VINs affected range between KMHDC81TMAU064300 and KMHDC51TMAU267226.Hyundai will contact owners of affected vehicles by mail. Vehicles will need to be returned to an authorised Hyundai dealership to have their steering inspected for either motor replacement, or a software upgrade.

Hyundai has released Trophy versions of the i30, ix35 and Elantra with a package of additional features worth around $2000, plus special driveaway deals, with prices rising between $400 and $1800 over the non-driveaway list figures for the Active spec versions the upgraded vehicles are based on. The i30 Trophy gets leather-trimmed seats, five-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels and electric folding side mirrors, with the prices rising from $400 to $1500 over the equivalent Active variant. The Elantra sedan Trophy scores the wheels and leather trim plus a premium steering wheel and gear-knob, with prices up $900 to $1200 on the Active versions. The 2WD ix35 Trophy with manual transmission misses out on the goodies package, but the automatic version gets the folding mirrors, leather trim, premium steering wheel and gear knob, but larger  triple-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels, tinted rear windows, front foglamps, automatic dusk-sensing headlights, chilled glove box and an electrochromatic rearview mirror with integrated reversing camera for an extra $1800 over the Active.   PRICING     This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Economic woe clouding Europe has delivered a silver lining for Australia with the arrival of the new Hyundai i30 Tourer. The little wagon was designed and destined solely for Euro markets, but sliding sales there and a strong currency here gave the Aussie business case a leg-up and backflipped the previous decision not to send it to us. The i30 is Hyundai's star success story, their top seller -- and the sixth most popular car in Australia last year. Rivals for it on the sales leaderboard are the Mazda3 in first place, Toyota's Corolla in third and the Holden Cruze in fifth -- and just a whisker ahead of the Hyundai. But the i30 has a chance to leapfrog ahead this year, if the new wagon lends the hatch a hand by attracting extra buyers. Many of those will come from fleets that favoured the previously discontinued wagon, but with fresh looks and a sprinkle of extra equipment, it's going to lure private buyers too. In Europe, wagons are often an upmarket choice, and that tendency has seeded the more premium approach of the i30 Tourer', which was designed in Germany and built in the Czech Republic. Both Active and Elite spec get the classy grille seen only on the latter in the hatch, daytime running lights, speed limiter on the cruise control and smart 16-in alloys (and yes, a full-size spare) added to the already generous i30 fit-outs. That means the Tourer Elite also scores the hatch's rear view camera, 7-in touchscreen satnav with live SUNA updates and other goodies. But both wagons also get multi-link rear suspension, rather than the hatch's cheaper torsion beam. The Tourers share the i30 range's 94kW/260Nm 1.6-litre turbodiesel -- the Elite offers only that engine with a six-speed auto -- but the Tourer's petrol choice is the 98kW/163Nm 1.6-litre from the Veloster and Kia Rio, rather than the hatch's 1.8-litre (sacrificing 3kW and 15Nm with the change). There's a rise of $2000 over the discontinued wagon and current hatch, with the newcomer starting in showrooms later this month at $22,990 for the petrol and $25,590 for the diesel in Active manual spec (the auto adds $2000) and topping out at $31,190 for the Elite. Fuel misers might be philosophically attracted to the manual diesel's 4.6L/100km and petrol's 6.3L, but buying trends show most will then skip over it for the auto versions claiming 5.8L and 6.9L respectively. Load-luggers will love the increased cargo space, with 528 litres -- 113 more than the previous wagon and 150 more than the hatch -- ballooning to 1642 with the rear seats flat-folded. So... how does that stack up against that close leaderboard rival? The Holden Cruze wagon starts at $25,790 and is longer, wider and higher, but falls behind on 500 to 1478-litre cargo space -- and also on head and shoulder room. The Hyundai will also gain some applause with European styling and build against the Korean origins of the Cruze wagon. It will be an interesting race to the sales finish line this year. Wagons ho! This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Keen to give its vehicles a European image, Hyundai is calling the new body style a Tourer rather than a station wagon. The Tourer was designed in Germany and it comes as no surprise it uses what Hyundai calls its Fluidic Sculpture theme. This shape has been greeted with enthusiasm in many countries, with buyers saying it stands out from the crowd. Unlike the about to be superseded i30 wagon which had a longer wheelbase than the hatchback, the new Tourer will share the i30 hatch's 2650 mm wheelbase. That’s already a long wheelbase so there shouldn't be any compromise in interior and luggage space. The i30 Tourer is 185 mm longer overall than the hatch and has 528 litres of stowage capacity with rear seats up, an increase of 150 litres over the hatch. This increases to an impressive 1642 litres with the rear seats folded flat. Additional underfloor storage compartments add to the i30 Tourer’s versatility Again following the European way of doing things, the new Hyundai i30 Tourer wagon will be sold with both petrol and turbo-diesel powertrains. The 1.6-litre direct-injection petrol engine puts out 99 kW of power and 164 Nm of torque. The latter at a very high 4850 rpm – the sort of engine revs seldom, if ever, achieved by most drivers. Presumably the torque will be offered at much lower revs, we are yet to drive the new wagon and will comment on its performance as soon as we have done so. Sounding much more practical, the 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine has peak power of 94 kW at 4000 rpm, with top torque of 260 Nm being produced between 1900 and 2750 rpm. Both engines will be offered with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, the latter having a sequential manual mode. The new Hyundai i30 Tourer has a sophisticated range of active and passive safety technologies. Standard across all models are Vehicle Stability Management (VSM), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Traction Control System (TCS), and ABS with EBD and Brake Assist.  Safety during a crash will be assisted by ultra-high-tensile steel within the body shell and seven airbags on all models. The local importer tells us the Hyundai i30 Tourer will be sold in Australia in two trim levels, Active and Elite, and that standard equipment will be similar, but not identical, to the i30 hatchback. Full specifications will be announced closer to the launch of the Tourer. We will attend the press launch of the new i30 wagon and report on it immediately afterwards. The complete Hyundai i30 Tourer range is: GDI Active 1.6-litre petrol five-door wagon: $22,990 (manual), $24,990 (automatic) CRDI Active 1.6-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $25,590 (manual), $27,590 (automatic) CRDI Elite 1.6-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $31,190 (automatic)  

The Korean brand was third for the month in showrooms, only beaten by Toyota and GM Holden.Once again it was the combination of the classy i30 compact and the dollar-driven Getz that did the job for Hyundai, which is now fast-tracking a challenge on Mazda and Ford in Australia. It is only fifth in the year-to-date sales figures but gaining ground rapidly. There was no champagne or celebration at Hyundai headquarters in Sydney, just a commitment to growth and more new models through 2010."We're keeping our heads down and keeping working. That was last month," Hyundai spokesman, Ben Hershman, said yesterday. "We've just launched the ix35 SUV and there seems to be good interest, and we're also looking forward to the arrival of the (baby) i20 this year."Hyundai only beat the home-grown Falcon brand by 60 sales in February, but the result is still a reflection of Hyundai's growing power and the vulnerability of Ford. The local results are a contrast to the USA, where Ford went to number one in February as Toyota and General Motors both struggled. Sales of Fords lifted by 43 per cent during the month as Toyota, reeling from its crash-and-recall fiasco, reported an 8.7 drop."We sold everything we had so there is not much else we could do," Ford spokesperson, Sinead McAlary, said yesterday. "We've worked a couple of overtime days at Broadmeadows and we are trying to get more vehicles. The harder issue for us is imported vehicles. "We had a record with Fiesta in February but we have had trouble getting the right models in the right numbers. We're working on what we need to do to get vehicles to match demand."TOP 10 BRANDSFEBRUARY 20101.  Toyota 16,8142.  Holden 11,2133.  Hyundai 72084.  Ford 71485.  Mazda 70036.  Mitsubishi 50267.  Nissan 45968.  Subaru 32789.  Honda 310210. Volkswagen 2998 

Back in 1999, the only diesel-powered vehicles on the Australian market were sports utility vehicles, light commercials and trucks.

New sales figures reveal that not only do buyers continue to prefer cars made in Japan by a ratio of almost two to one, they also prefer cars built in Korea to locally-made ones, which have been outsold by Seoul for the first time. In August we bought 26,456 cars from Japan and 11,704 from Korea — and only 11,540 big Australians. Cars made in Thailand, which include most Hondas, were the fourth most popular at 9711. The best-selling car for the second consecutive month was Toyota's imported Corolla, which outsold Holden's steadily declining Commodore by 3659 to 3329. The once Commodore-rivalling Ford Falcon sedan could muster only 2449 sales, behind the Mazda3 and barely ahead of the Mitsubishi Lancer and Hyundai i30 — all lean-running four-cylinder imports. Of the remaining Aussies, Ford's Falcon Ute and Territory, Holden's Statesman and Toyota's Aurion all lost ground compared to August 2008. Tellingly, the only locally-produced car to improve performance was Toyota's four-cylinder Camry. An increasing proportion of the cars made in Australia are Toyotas. While not the worst ever result for Commodore and Falcon, it was a dismal return for a month in which the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) said private buyers returned to the market. The difficulty is that Commodore and Falcon rely on fleet sales for more than 70 per cent of their volume. And while a respectable total of 73,287 vehicles were driven out of sales yards last month, the large car segment was down by a massive 21.3 per cent on the same period for 2008. The small car segment, dominated by Japan and Korea, was up 7 per cent. Holden markets several models made in Korea, the newest of which, the Cruze, was its second best seller on 1971. It will be made here from next year. FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar says the rise of Korean cars is ‘well deserved’, but Australian car makers have ‘plans to enhance their positions' including a range of economical new engines, not least of which is Ford’s much-discussed proposal to stick a 2.0-litre turbo diesel in the Falcon and to belatedly give the Territory the diesel it needs. McKellar says these are among the moves crucial in securing the Rudd Government's controversial $6.2 billion/four-year commitment to help Australian car makers. Toyota remained the top seller in August monthly market with 15,994 vehicle sales, ahead of Holden (9,505), Ford (7,623), Mazda (5,863) and Hyundai (5,980). But August was a month in which makers of cars from the land of kim chee were entitled to crow — not least Hyundai, which achieved market share of 8.2 per cent in a total market that has decreased 14.2 per cent year to date. It remains the only top 10 brand to post a sales increase — eight consecutive months of year-on-year growth and an overall increase of sales of 32.5%YTD. “Hyundai’s sales results are a global success story and reflect the company’s acceptance as one of the top five global manufacturers,” Hyundai director of sales and marketing Kevin McCann says. “In Australia, Hyundai has achieved remarkable growth this year based on our ability to deliver outstanding design, quality and value. Our growth here has enabled Hyundai and its dealers to invest in new facilities, people and training and in community sponsorships such as Hyundai A-League, Hopman Cup tennis, Carlton FC and numerous charitable involvements.” TOP 10 BRANDS AUGUST 09, YTD 2009 (+/- 2008) 1 Toyota 15,994 126,891 (-) 2 Holden 9505 75,923 (-) 3 Ford 7623 61,862 (-) 4 Mazda 5863 50,490 (-) 5 Hyundai 5980 42,141 (+) 6 Nissan 3657 34,367 (-) 7 Mitsubishi 4551 35,780 (-) 8 Honda 2841 27,848 (-) 9 Subaru 2602 24,418 (-) 10 Volkswagen 2115 20,410 (-) TOP 20 CARS AUGUST 09 1 Toyota Corolla 3659 2 Holden Commodore 3329 3 Mazda3 2898 4 Ford Falcon 2449 5 Toyota Hilux 2327 6 Toyota Camry 2192 7 Mitsubishi Lancer 2171 8 Hyundai i30 2105 9 Holden Cruze 1971 10 Hyundai Getz 1868 11 Toyota Yaris 1406 12 Mazda2 1134 13 Subaru Impreza 1120 14 Toyota Kluger 1108 15 Ford Focus 1097 16 Toyota Prado 1065 17 Toyota RAV4 1061 18 Nissan Navara 1043 19 Holden Captiva 1031 20 Mitsubishi Triton 1026

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. 

After claiming top prize in the Carsguide Car of the Year award for 2008 the blue oval brand's family favourite has also been named as Best Family Car in the Australia's Best Cars awards for 2008.It is the only homegrown champion among the 12 winners in the annual contest judged by Australia's motoring clubs as a consumer guide to new-car showrooms.The winners claimed their crowns after a massive assessment of 280 individual contenders, who are judged against three basic measurements: value for money, design and on-road performance.The field was trimmed to 36 finalists across the 12 categories, and these were then extensively road tested to find the winners in each size and price class.The champion crew for 2008 runs from the Mazda2 Neo at the bottom, through the Falcon and Hyundai iMax people mover to the luxury Lexus GS450h hybrid and the luxury BMW X5 four-wheel drive.But it is the Falcon which has made the biggest impact, according to Best Cars' chief judge Ernest Litera."The winning 2008 Ford Falcon XT represents a concerted effort on product refinement; the model is not an all-new chassis and engine but more a refinement to the engine to produce better performance and fuel economy," says Litera."The ride and handling package has also improved significantly and feels more like the quality cars we would expect to come out of Europe, without compromising on space, touring ability and towing that Australians also often look for."Litera praises the general standard of the vehicles which made the shortlist in 2008."The finalists are a good set of cars - we are very pleased with the sorts of cars that have come on to the Australian market this year."The judges are seeing a steady improvement in the quality of vehicles on the Australian market - particularly in the area of safety equipment and crash test results alongside their on-road performance."They have to perform well in crash tests conducted by Australia's leading crash test and vehicle safety advocate, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program, and the ANCAP results show vehicles are definitely safer today without compromising performance."But he says the choices, even exotics such as the Audi TT-S sports car and the heavyweight Land Rover Discovery four-wheel drive, are always assessed against the needs of potential owners."These are consumer awards where every score on every vehicle is made available to help buyers make informed purchasing decisions," says Litera.Full details of the Best Cars awards can be viewed at australiasbestcars.com.au or in the Australia's Best Cars magazine, available from newsagents. Australia's Best Cars 2008 WinnersBest Small Car: Mazda2 NeoBest Mid-Size Car under $28,000: Hyundai i30 SXBest Mid-Size Car over $28,000: Mazda6 ClassicBest Large Car: Ford FG Falcon XTBest People Mover: Hyundai iMaxBest Sports Car: BMW 135i Coupe SportBest Luxury Sports Car: Audi TT-S TFSI QuattroBest Prestige Car: Audi A4 TDIBest Luxury Car: Lexus GS450hBest Recreational 4WD: Volkswagen Tiguan TDIBest Luxury 4WD: BMW X5 3.0dBest All-Terrain 4WD: Land Rover Discovery 3SE TDV6