Category: Hyundai

Hyundai has finally announced the pricing for its luxury saloon, the Genesis. The entry level will start at a competitive $33,000/£16,500.

If this news doesn’t really concern us as the Genesis won’t likely be brought to Europe, it still shows us how Hyundai plans to move upmarket in the future. The Korean carmaker will compete on the value for money to convince people to buy a luxury saloon without any brand image.

For $33,000/£16,500, the entry-level is powered by a 290bhp 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine hooked up to a six-speed automatic gearbox. Equipment includes 17in alloy wheels, fog lamps, heated side mirrors, heated leather seats, cruise control, parking sensor and dual-zone climate control.

The upper version is powered by the Tau V8 petrol engine which delivers 375bhp. It is hooked up to a six-speed automatic gearbox. in addition to the equipment found on the V6 version, it comes with 18in wheels, chrome exterior moldings, a leather wrapped dash, premium upholstery, tilt and slide glass sunroof, power tilt and telescoping leather-wrapped steering wheel with memory function, a 15-speaker Lexicon premium sound system, power rear sunshade and rain-sensing wipers. V8 engines and huge equipments are given for $38,000/£19,000.

The Genesis saloon is Hyundai’s serious attempt to move upmarket and like the Japanese carmakers in the 80’s, the path might be more difficult than initially thought.

Hyundai has announced it has recorded 700 pre-orders and 20,000 potential buyers have expressed interest in the car. In comparison, Jaguar had presold 3,000 units of the XF saloon in the US and 10,000 worldwide. In an attempt to boost the saloon’s awareness among customers, the Korean carmaker will spend £40 million on a marketing campaign.

"This car will allow us to reach new customers and talk up quality like we never have," Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing for Hyundai Motor America said. "They’ve given us enough resources, and we will spend the money over a short period of time — over the summer. We have to make every cent count. We will be talking to a broad audience to use this as a brand lift."

Ewanick isn’t a beginner when it comes to launch a luxury model from scratch as he was part of the marketing team which launched Lexus in the US. Final specs remain unknown although the saloon will likely be sold between £15,000 and £20,000 and be powered by V6 and V8 petrol engines. The carmaker plans to sell 30,00 units annually.

What’s interesting about this announcement is the possibility to see how much a brand is valuable. Despite having no money, Jaguar succeeded in recording more pre-orders than Hyundai.

Hyundai has confirmed it will build an ultra-low-cost car which will cost around £1,800 and will released in 2012.

The Korean carmaker had expressed its interest in building a budget car three months ago. However, it had no definite plans. This time, the Hyundai Motor India Managing Director and CEO H S Lheem has given more details about it. First, Hyundai has confirmed that the car will be more expensive than the Tata Nano, At £1,800 it will be £550 more than the Indian car. Secondly, Lheem also said that the car will not compete with the Nano like Renault-Nissan plans to do.

Other information remain scarce as the car is in the early stage of development.

A few years ago, the market was loaded with several people carriers, but the strong demand for SUVs pushed carmakers to forget them. Fortunately, Hyundai has launched a people carrier with room for eight, called i800.

The i800 succeeds where others fail: carrying 8 people, while keeping 851 litres of space in the boot when loaded with passengers. In order to achieve such a performance, the i800 measures 5,125 mm long, 1,920 wide and 1,925 tall. Aware of the intimidation generated by the dimensions, Hyundai has fitted electronic reversing sensors as standard.

On the inside,  the ambience is car-like with two-tone interior trim, privacy glass, a six-speaker audio system and ducted air conditioning throughout. Individually-controllable overhead vents in the rear make sure all of the occupants can keep their cool. The i800 features a pair seats in front and two benches behind, each accommodating three adults in comfort with uncompromised head and legroom. Both rear benches feature a 60:40 split-fold and recline while the centre row also slides forwards or backwards to tailor space as required All of the rear seats are accessed by pair of sliding doors.

The i800 is powered by a new 2.5-litre four-cylinder CRDi diesel engine, which is intercooled and features a variable-geometry turbo. Peak power output is 170PS with a massive 392Nm of torque. The i800 will go on sale on 20th June costing £19,495. If you still think that the i800 is a bit too expensive, the Korean carmaker will launch later in the year by a cheaper version.

Hyundai has opened a new factory in China with its business partner Beijing Automotive. The new facility will double production capacity in China to 600,000 vehicles in the coming years.

Like other carmakers, Hyundai wants to have its share of the Chinese pie and invests a lot to increase its sales. After the announcement of launching a new luxury brand there, the company has invested £500 million in a new plant as a part of an ambitious plan to capture a share of 10 per cent or sell 1 million vehicles. The new production site will build 100,000 Elantra this year.

Last year, Hyundai sold 231,175 vehicles and plans to sell 380,000 units this year. It will still be far form the leader GM which sold 508,308 vehicles last year but close to Toyota and its Toyota 281,952 units. In China, Hyundai tries to cover all market segments form the cheap models to the luxury segment on which the Genesis will be launched in June.

While the American market has the new Genesis coupé, nothing has been decided yet for Europe and we’re forced to be patient with Hyundai which unveils a limited edition, called TSIII, of the current model.

Priced at £19,595, this limited edition comes with unique accessories which won’t make the ageing coupé be more appealing. It is available with a choice of four colours, Stone Black, Rose Red, Crystal White or Carbon Grey. Crystal White and Rose Red are exclusive to this edition. It also features 17” alloy wheels with a special anthracite finish. At the rear, there are four exhaust pipes but don’t be fooled, it’s still the peaceful 141bhp 2.0-litre petrol unit under the bonnet.

On the inside, this unique coupé features leather sports seats,  metal trimmed pedals, Air conditioning with climate control, heated front seats and cruise control.

The TSIII is £1,575 more expensive than the basic model. There are many better ways to spend this amount than on this special edition.

Hyundai spokesman has announced that the carmaker doesn’t plan to import the Genesis on our shores due to Lexus’ poor sales results.

The new Hyundai flagship won’t cross the Atlantic Ocean to hit the European showrooms revealed Hyundai spokesman Oles Gadacz. The company executives took the decision after looking at Lexus’s track record in Europe. Despite selling its models in Europe for the last fifteen years, the luxury Toyota brand struggled to sell 40,636 cars last year.

The stricter CO2 emission regulation due to apply in Europe in 2012 is also the other reason given by Hyundai not to sell the Genesis on the European market. With its 4.6-litre V8 engine, it is certain that the Genesis would penalize the company’s fleet average.

Hyundai has announced it will start to produce hybrid cars from next year in order to increase its global sales at a time when environmental issues are rising.

Hyundai has plan to be among the top five carmakers by mass-producing hybrid-powered vehicles. The Hyundai Avante/Elantra compact saloon will be the first model to feature a hybrid solution by the middle of next year. A family saloon  likely to be the Sonata will arrive by 2010 while the company plans to release fuel cell model by 2012.

Hyundai will join Honda in the battle of mass-produced cars as the Japanese carmaker will sell a low-cost hybrid model next year. if Honda has already given a targeted price of around £12,000 for the entry level, Hyundai didn’t confirm any price tag. The current i30 starts at £10,995.