Hyundai IX35 2012 News

...and was ahead of Mazda's CXers and even the Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix35.But now it's only built in left-hand drive and sold in the USA with an Acura badge instead of a Honda tag. Call Honda now if you want to push for a return. 

In the tsunami of email scams, you could be forgiven for scoffing at that announcement. But for one lucky Australian Hyundai buyer, it was genuine – and will see them getting a special prize with their car. The milestone Hyundai, an ix35 SUV, was sold just after 5pm last Wednesday -- at the same dealer who sold the first one way back in 1986, John Hughes Hyundai in Perth.  “We’re delighted that that the millionth new Hyundai was sold in the same city where it all began back in 1986,” Hyundai marketing director Oliver Mann says. Hyundai says the buyer will be getting VIP treatment with a package to attend the Hopman Cup in Perth -- and a hamper of chocolate and other sweets to keep their blood sugar up while courtside.  Mr Mann said: “The true significance of reaching one million sales in Australia is that so many astute local buyers have put their faith in the Hyundai brand when there is so much choice in the market," "We thank them for their loyalty, and pledge to continue our efforts to provide them with superior quality and service.” Hyundai has been pressing the sales accelerator. It took 18 years to reach the half-million mark, but the remaining 500,000 vehicles have rolled out the door in just the past eight years since 2004.  The growth has seen Hyundai become the fifth-largest automotive brand in Australia – and helped towards it being the fastest-growing in the world, with last year’s global sales exceeding 4 million.  

The ix35 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) will begin in-service testing this year with plans to put it into production by 2015.Hyundai's third-generation FCEV is equipped with a 100kW fuel cell system, with two high pressure, 700bar hydrogen storage tanks.The ix35 FCEV can travel 650km on a single charge, a range equal to a conventional petrol-powered car. It can be started in temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius.The ix35 FCEV's range is a 76-percent improvement over the previous generation which was limited to 370km on one charge.This new model achieves a petrol equivalent fuel efficiency of 3.2 litres per 100km, a 15-percent improvement over the previous generation.The overall volume of the fuel cell system has been downsized by 20-percent, via modularisation of bulky parts including the fuel cell stack, balance of plant (BOP), inverter and the high voltage junction box.This year 48 of the ix35 FCEVs will be part of a Domestic Fleet Program supported by the South Korean government.To date, Hyundai has registered more than 2 million kilometres of testing of its hydrogen vehicles.Hyundai plans to build a limited volume of the ix35 FCEVs in 2012 and begin mass production in 2015.

... with an all-wheel drive, 2.4 litre petrol Highlander joining the turbo diesel Highlander at the top of the range.  The engine's already available in the mid-level trimed ix35 Elite AWD but almost half the local demand's been for Highlanders. Here the four cylinder engine is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with sequential manual mode and pumps out 130kW at 6000rpm plus 227Nm of torque at 4000rpm. Hyundai's ix35 range is also available with a 2 litre petrol engine in the entry level Active two-wheel drive model while the turbo diesel engine is available in mid-trim ix35 Elite AWD and ix35 Highlander AWD models. List prices start at $26,990 and run through to $38,490. The new petrol-engined Highlander starts at $35,490 before on-road costs.

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.