Archive for Hyundai

These are sketches of Hyundai’s Concept Genesis, a D-segment vehicle that will make it’s public debut at the New York International Auto Show this year. Rumours are that the Concept Genesis will eventually graduate as a production model Hyundai i50, also code-named Hyundai Equus. The Equus is supposedly Hyundai’s first rear wheel drive platform car. This might be the successor to the Hyundai Sonata, and with rear wheel drive, it should please the Americans and Australians.

A little bit about Hyundai’s new model naming scheme. Hyundai seems to have emulated BMW’s number scheme somewhat, with the Hyundai i30 being in the same segment as the 3-series which is the C-segment, while this new i50 will be similiar in size to the 5-series, a D-segment car. Following this trend, we might see a future large Hyundai called the i70?

One more rear view sketch after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Concept Genesis - D-segment competitor

While Kia’s new cee’d series looks absolutely gorgeous, by Korean standards of course, and truly shows their advancement in the automtive industry… the same can’t be said of it’s group sibling Hyundai. The Hyundai i30 is based off the previously showcased Arnejs concept, and it has ended up looking like a mere rebadged version of the Kia cee’d with elements of Mazda 3 side profile, BMW 1-Series plus Mitsubishi Colt rear and a Honda Accord front grille thrown in to differentiate it from the original. It’s not that it looks bad, it actually looks nice, but that Accord grille rip-off is just too blatant.

Engines will include 3 petrol powered engines - a 1.4 109Hp, a 1.6 122Hp and a 2.0 143Hp, as well as 3 diesels for those who love mega torque oil burners - 1.6CRDi 90hp, 1.6CRDi 115Hp and 2.0 CRDi 140Hp. This is the same as the Kia cee’d range.

Two more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai i30 photos leaked ahead of Geneva

Another concept vehicle which made it’s debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show is the Hyundai HCD10 Hellion Concept, a three-door compact SUV looking like it was fishes straight out of the Alien series of movies.

Hyundai used a tough safety cage concept (ala smart) to build the HCD10 Hellion Concept, using three ultra-lightweight structural ribs to create the HCD10 Hellion’s safety cage. These ribs connect to a suspended surfboard-shaped spine. This is probably what contributed to the car’s pretty much organic look.

The Hyundai HCD10 Hellion Concept was also designed not just too look tough, but act tough. Hyundai designed it to be a proper offroader, with short overhangs to allow more aggressive approach angles. The car has a removable canvas soft-top roof, but even though removed, the passangers are protected by some kind of cross bar.

The HCD10 Hellion Concept is painted with a paint scheme called Dakar Gold, to honor the famous Paris-Dakar 4WD rally and it’s influence on it’s design. Wheels are huge 20-inch aluminium 2-piece wheels, and are Teflon-coated for hardiness against tough environments.

On the interior, the same organic-looking ribs that are apparent from the outside are also visible on the inside, giving the occupants a sense of safety. An overhead console is suspended, which houses integrated interior lighting and a drop-down LCD monitor for rear-seat entertainment.

Enough about the looks - this concept is powered by a 3.0 liter V6 CRDi engine making 236 horsepower and 450Nm of torque.

More photos and detailed specs after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai HCD10 Hellion Concept at LA Auto Show

Sime Darby Bhd is considering expanding it’s Kulim car production facility from the current 30,000 units a year up to 120,000 units a year if it can get Hyundai to use Malaysia as it’s ASEAN hub. Hyundai is currently considering between Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia as potential production hub for the ASEAN market.

Currently Sime Darby assembles a few Hyundai vehicles for the local market through it’s Inokom badge - the ATOZ as the Inokom Atos Prima, the Matrix as the Inokom Matrix, and most recently the Hyundai Getz as the Inokom Getz. Inokom also assembles Hyundai commercial trucks like the Hyundai Mighty, and has plans to locally assemble SUVs by Hyundai.

Related Posts:
CKD Hyundai SUVs soon!
Inokom to assemble Hyundai Mighty

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Hyundai has kitted out their new Hyundai Sonata NF for public viewing at the Australian Motor Show 2006, which gives us a preview of a possible future high performance Hyundai Sonata model. The Hyundai Sonata SXi Concept is powered by a V6 engine driving the front wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission.

Hyundai Australia put the concept together to gauge public response to the model, of which if favourable, could mean we could see a high performance Hyundai going on sale perhaps sometime in 2007.

Rear view after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Sonata SXi Concept

Hyundai’s first attempt at a full size seven-passenger SUV - the Hyundai Terracan based on Mitsubishi Pajero underpinings - was pretty much a failure. I haven’t seen it on the road anywhere, and there are talks that there are only 2 in Malaysia, both being owned by people related to the Hyundai distributorship here.

Hyundai is giving the segment a shot again with the newly launched Hyundai Veracruz, a mid-ish full-ish sized luxury SUV named after a coastal Mexican state. Hyundai says the Veracruz will have more cargo volume than the bigger Mercedes benz GL, provided it’s third row seats that provide it’s 7-seater capacity are stowed away.

Power will come from a 265 horsepower 3.8 liter V6 or a 3.0 liter turbodiesel, and the Hyundai Veracruz is expected to be unveiled to the public early January 2007 at the Detroit Motor Show.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Hyundai Veracruz

Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors Sdn Bhd plans to start CKD assembly of Hyundai SUVs by mid-2007, in efforts to capture a bigger share of the non-national car market. Hyundai’s Malaysian SUV offerings currently consist of the Tucson crossover SUV and the Santa Fe SUV. The Tucson is a small SUV going on head to head with likes of the Ford Escape, and the Hyundai Santa Fe competes with the bigger boys like the Honda CR-V.

Local assembly of the Hyundai Getz 1.4 with an Inokom badge has managed to drop the price by about RM10,000 - so I guess we can expect a CKD Santa Fe soon, with the Tucson coming later, similiar to the route Naza took with local assembly of the Kia Sorento first, and possible assembly of the Sportage in the future.

In GreenFleet’s Capital Fuel Challenge, the Hyundai Getz 1.5 CRDi turbodiesel won first place for the private sector category, beating a Toyota Prius 1.6 petrol hybrid which got 2nd place as well as a Volkswagen Caddy 1.9 TDi turbodiesel which ended up third.

The test was conducted in London traffic, with speeds averaging from 5 to 10 mph, yup - this isn’t a highway test. City traffic only. The Getz managed to get 45.15 mpg, while the Prius only got 32.43 mpg. The third place Caddy managed 36.53 mpg, better than the Prius, but it lost the 2nd place to the Prius because Prius emissions were slightly lower - 201.85 CO2 g/km versus 204.31 CO2 g/km for the Caddy.

In the public sector category, there was a Prius which managed 45.71 mpg, as opposed to the 32.43 mpg for the Prius in the private sector category - this shows that Prius fuel efficiency is highly dependant on external factors - perhaps the driver in this case. Still, 45.71 mpg in the best performing Prius is only slightly better than the Getz’s 45.15 mpg.

Perhaps hybrids are overrated after all.

Hyundai has just opened it’s new 50 million Euro headquarters in Germany, part of the company’s strategy to become one of Europe’s top automotive brands. The new HQ in Offenbach, near Frankfurt, will be Hyundai’s central for European sales, marketing and aftersales divisions.

Hyundai’s headquarters was previously located in Russelheim, Germany. The center will now be expanded into a dedicated European Research and Design Centre.

Combined with Hyundai’s first European plant in the Czech Republic, Hyundai will now centralise planning, design, production and sales for the European market within Europe itself. Shown above is the Hyundai Arnejs Concept, the base for a new European Hyundai.

We all know Dodge doesn’t really have a small car in it’s stables, which explains the Dodge Hornet concept and Chrysler’s on-going search for a partner to build small cars with. But somewhere south of the USA, in Mexico there are small Dodge cars going around the streets - the Dodge Attitude.

Looks familiar to you? You bet. The car is actually a rebadged 2006 Hyundai Accent, one model newer than the Accent that is available on our local shores right now. Dodge also sells a Dodge Atos - you guessed it! - a rebadged Hyundai Atos.

DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai used to have some form of strategic alliance together back in the year 2000 which involved DaimlerChrysler holding a 10% equity in Hyundai. This stake was sold in the year 2004 at a profitable US$912 million. It bought the stake in 2000 for US$428 million. They had a few projects together, even a small car platform but I don’t know what has happened to that now, since Chrysler is looking elsewhere for a small car development program. Another product of the partnership is the World Engine (1.8L to 2.4L), developed under the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance, or GEMA - a collaboration between DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi Motors, and Hyundai.

I wonder if someone will try to stuff a Hemi into a Dodge-badged Hyundai Accent.