Hyundai Blog

In addition to the sales success Hyundai achieved in U.S. market last month, when more than 50.000 Hyundais rolled off showrooms -for the first time since it entered the U.S. market, Hyundai Motor Co. Australia (HMCA) also reported its best sales month ever.

In June alone, Hyundai sold 5447 vehicles in Australia breaking its previous record month that HMCA achieved three years ago. In June of 2005, Hyundai sold 5521 vehicles.

Last month, a number of models in the range achieved their best-ever monthly sales results. Topping the charts was the new Hyundai i30 hatchback with sales of 1074 units. Other two models also achieving their highest monthly sales were Tucson SUV and iLoad van with sales of 1138 and 257 units respectively.

Hyundai Canada has released pricing details for the 2009 Genesis sedan -Hyundais first rear wheel drive luxury vehicle. Prices start at $37,995 for V6 powered variant and climb to $43,995 for the top of the line, V8 powered, Genesis sedan.

With technology rivaling more expensive luxury sedans, such as BMW 5-series or Lexus GS, Genesis showcases features such as Adaptive Front Lighting System, Lexicon audio systems, electronic active head restraints, cooled drivers seat and Bluetooth technology with speech dialogue system.

The 2009 Genesis is avaliable with either a V6 or Hyundais first ever V8 engine. Genesis’s 3.8L V6 is mated to a six-speed Aisin automatic transmission and delievers an estimated 290hp. Second engine option, Hyundai’s all new V8 “Tau” engine, produces 375 hp - when using premium fuel. Afore-mentioned engine is mated to ZF six-speed automatic transmission.

According to Hyundai, V6 version delivers an outstanding fuel economy, outperforming  V6 engines in many mid-size cars (Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion) on the highway. The 3.8-litre V6 achieves 11.4L/100km in the city and 7.2L/100km on the highway, while the 4.6L V8 is rated at 12.6L/100km in the city and 8.1L/100km on the highway.

The list of standard and optional fetures on the 2009 Hyundai genesis -after the jump. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Hyundai Motor America today announced sales of 50,033 for the month of June, a 1.3 percent increase over the same record-setting period last year and best sales month ever.

“As consumers continue to shift to smaller cars, our most fuel-efficient vehicles — Accent, Elantra and Sonata — continue their upward trend with increases of 70 percent, 51 percent and 12 percent respectively over last year,” said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America’s vice president of national sales. “We are very pleased with our record-setting results for June, breaking the 50,000 mark, and look forward to building on this trend.”

The June of 2008 will also be marked as the month when luxury Genesis sedan went on sale. In it’s first month, Hyundai dealers sold 30 units, and we are expecting to see the sales numbers increase when more vehicles are supplied to Hyundai dealers.

    CARLINE            JUNE/2008      JUNE/2007        CY2008
    ACCENT                6,914          4,067         28,184

    SONATA               16,875         15,080         65,927

    ELANTRA              14,482          9,617         61,978

    TIBURON                 979          1,670          4,967

    SANTA FE              5,863          8,460         37,410

    AZERA                 1,745          1,807         11,443

    TUCSON                1,964          3,639         11,747

    ENTOURAGE               499          3,479          3,032

    VERACRUZ                682          1,549          6,348

    GENESIS                  30            n/a             30

    TOTAL                50,033         49,368        231,066

Hyundai is proud to announce that Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has become the fifth largest automaker in the world. With the global sales of 4,146,743 vehicles last year, Hyundai-Kia has moved from sixth to fifth position among world’s largest automakers. The Korean auto group has seen a remarkable growth since 1999 when it was ranked as 11th largest auto maker.

According to Ik-Hwan Kim, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Kia Motors, the automaker will not stop here and will continue to focus on producing a new generation of quality vehicles with distinctive design. As a top global automaker, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is set to move in new directions with continuous improvements in quality, design, eco-friendliness and brand innovation for years to come.

See the 2007 Global sales rankings table after the jump…

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) today reported a 34 per cent increase in domestic passenger car sales at 21,881 units during June, against 16,335 units in the corresponding month of 2007. Its exports for the month rose to 18,301 units, against 11,318 units during the same month previous year.

HMIL sold 33,859 units of hatchbacks  Santro, Getz and i10  6,272 units of Accent and Verna, 47 units of Sonata Embera and 4 units of its SUV Tucson in June.

“At a time when the industry is already under tremendous pressure because of higher interest rates, rise in fuel costs and rising inflation, it is indeed very heartening to see that Hyundai products continue to be an affordable and attractive buy for most car buyers,” company’s Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena said.

The company’s i10 has done exceedingly well and it has sold over 1,00,000 units in less than six months since its launch, he added.[Source: Business-standard ]

Hyundai Motor Co. announced it has developed a cost and fuel-efficient city bus that employs a mild hybrid system based entirely on Hyundai’s proprietary technology. The application of a mild hybrid system to a commercial vehicle will accelerate the wider use of eco-friendly vehicles which reduce CO2 emissions and fuel costs.

The mild hybrid system uses an 8KW AC (alternating current) motor and generator which is used to automatically shut off the engine when the vehicle stops and to rapidly spin it back up when the driver releases the brake pedal. It also transforms wasted kinetic energy during braking of the vehicle?into electrical energy which powers the engine’s cooling fan motor. Depending on driving conditions, a vehicle equipped with this mild hybrid system will be able to save between 15~20 percent in fuel costs.

This mild hybrid system can be easily applied to any diesel or CNG-powered vehicle and costs about one-fifth the price of a full hybrid system. While full hybrid systems can improve fuel efficiency by up to 50 percent compared to a conventionally-powered vehicle, their substantially higher initial cost results in a much longer payback period which make full hybrids less appealing to commercial vehicle fleet owners.

Hyundai Motor Co. will supply two city buses to a Suwon transit bus company in early April and 10 buses to another bus operator in Incheon at the end of April for fleet testing, which will be closely monitored. Hyundai plans to mass produce the mild hybrid city buses by the end of 2009. The company will complete the development of a full hybrid system by mid-year and the full hybrid buses are scheduled to go into the first fleet tests in the second half of this year. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Hyundai Motor reports it managed to recapture number one sales spot in Russia’s imported car market after loosing it in months of March and April. Korean largest automotive company, which recently started to build it’s first Russian plant, links the establishment of a direct sales corporation in Russia last July to the rise in sales.

The world’s fifth largest automaker says it has sold almost 85,000 cars in Russia through May this year, some 2.000 units more than it’s main rival Chevrolet. Ranked third was American Ford, closely followed by Toyota.

With new vehicles such as the luxury Genesis sedan and Veracruz crossover, beeing launched in Russia this year, the company is hoping to raise it’s Russian market share and further increase it’s lead against the Chervolet brand. [Source: Hyundai-Blog]

Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which debuted as a concept at 2007 L.A. Auto Show and already became a new benchmark for affordable 300-horsepower sport coupes, won an prestigeous Production Preview Vehicle of the Year award.

Seventh annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards, organized by the South East Automotive Media Organization (SEAMO), recognized the Hyundai Genesis Coupe as the vehicle that will most likely shape the future of the automobile industry.

A jury of more than two dozen professional automotive journalists from throughout North America selected the concept award winners from the 40 concept vehicles and 12 production preview vehicles that made a North American debut during the 2008 auto show season. [Read the rest of this entry…]