Hyundai chases sales, share momentum

HYUNDAI will strive to consolidate its sales and market share growth in 2009 with new entries in two of the leading passenger car classes and the largest SUV segment.

This will be followed by an overhaul of other key models such as the Sonata, and may even include an inexpensive sportscar.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia’s (HMCA) general manager of marketing, Oliver Mann, said: “It’s all about maintaining market share this year.

“5.5 per cent is our target, and we’re planning cautiously ... and responding to the market on a month by month basis.”

HMCA ended 2008 with a market share of 4.5 per cent. So far this year, in a market down 20.2 per cent, Hyundai sales have risen 9.3 per cent to 4151 units, compared with 4010 units for the first two months of last year.

This made it the only top-10 manufacturer to record a sales increase in the first two months of 2009.

At the same time, Hyundai’s total market share also jumped by 1.5 percentage points to 5.7 per cent, with February’s share reaching 5.9 per cent.

According to HMCA director of sales and marketing, Kevin McCann, the Korean car-maker’s sales results for the first two months of this year have been better than forecast.

“It makes us pretty happy to be able to tell you that we have run slightly ahead of expectations,” he told the media at the launch of the i30cw (crossover wagon) in Sydney last week.

Left: Hyundai i10, Getz and below iLoad.

A 50 per cent jump in i30 small car sales has been at the vanguard of Hyundai’s volume growth in 2009, backed up by about 14 per cent sales growth of Getz light car and Tucson compact SUV.

All have been driven by strong promotional activity that included drive-away deals in January and February.

HMCA chief executive Steve Yeo believes the i30 will maintain its growth spurt thanks to freer supply and the introduction of the wagon.

“There are no more supply issues with i30, especially with the petrol model,” he said.

“Last year we had problems due to industrial action, but not any more.”

HMCA expects the i30cw to add about 200 sales a month to the hatch total.

Strong consumer reaction to the iLoad van and iMax full-sized people-mover (up 91.4 and 84.6 per cent year-to-date respectively) have added to Hyundai’s market share success, offsetting sizeable falls in the sales of the Accent light car (down 91.3 per cent), Grandeur large car (down 74.1 per cent), Elantra sedan small car (down 43.3 per cent), mid-sized Sonata (down 30.3 per cent) and Santa Fe mid-sized SUV (down 29 per cent).

Mr Mann said various “promotional activities” were planned for this year to help perk up floundering interest in such vehicles.

He quashed speculation that the Accent would be discontinued, saying that it would remain on sale for the time being as a fleet car. Only 16 were sold by the end of February, against 184 in the same time last year.

The Accent is expected to be replaced by the Indian-built i20 light car previewed at the Melbourne International Motor Show last month, and due in the third quarter of this year.

To be sold above the existing Getz (which will remain as HMCA’s price leader until at least the end of 2010), the i20 will challenge the Honda Jazz, Mazda2 and Ford Fiesta in the $15,000 to $22,000 end of the light-car market.

However, this does not complete HMCA’s activity in the bottom end of the market for 2009, as it seeks to introduce the i10 sub-B light-car model.

As yet unconfirmed for Australia, the i10 will be ready for a late 2009 launch if it does get the green light. An HMCA insider admitted that all eyes would be on the sales performance of the Suzuki Alto from June.

“It really is a case of who makes the first move,” our source said, responding to speculation that others such as Ford (with the Ka) and Holden (with the upcoming Spark) are also eyeing the sub-B segment.

“We can see having all three with Getz as the price leader, the i10 as a sub-light car contender, and the i20 as the premium light-car entry... It would not be too difficult to imagine the i10 coming in with the i20 at some stage."The i10 is built on the same Chennai production line as the i20 in India, sharing many components under the skin.

HMCA’s final lunge at achieving its 5.5 per cent market share goal in 2009 will be the early arrival of the replacement for the long-lived Tucson.

Previewed at last month’s Geneva motor show as the ix-onic but rumoured to be rechristened ix35 when unveiled in production guise later in 2009, this new-generation compact SUV might make it to Australian shores before the end of the year if HMCA has its way.

As we revealed earlier this month, Hyundai sources who have seen the real thing claim that the ix-onic concept is faithful to the final vehicle, presenting “many of its design elements but is not identical to the all-new model that is already undergoing public-road validation testing”.

The Tucson replacement will give HMCA its strongest ammunition against rival compact SUVs such as the Toyota RAV4, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester.

According to Mr Mann, HMCA is still contemplating if any of its SUVs will adopt the alphanumerical “i” format.

“It is still under discussion,” he said.

One model that will go down the “i” route is the replacement for the four-year-old NF Sonata series, due out next year or in early 2011 as the i40.

Besides gaining a far more stylish set of clothes, the mid-sized four-door sedan will be joined by a Passat CC four-door coupe-like model aimed at lifting Hyundai’s brand profile in America and Europe, according to overseas reports.

Refusing to confirm or deny the existence of such a car, Mr Yeo revealed that Hyundai was chasing a sexier image for all its upcoming models.

“Hyundai is now focussing on design as well as quality,” he said.

“You can expect all future cars to look great.”

To this end, a two-door coupe rumoured to based on the i30/Kia C'eed small-car platform is near completion and expected to be unveiled within the next few months.

Visually derived from Hyundai’s 2007 Seoul motor show Veloster concept, the sporty coupe should act as the company’s belated replacement for the Tiburon, as well as a youth-baiting exercise in the US, as the company attempts to steal sales from Toyota’s Scion brand.

Our Hyundai insider suggested the Veloster-based coupe might even arrive within the next 12 months.

Its impending arrival should help make up for the unavailability for the time being of the lauded Genesis sedan and Coupe available in Australia due to their left-hand drive-only configuration.

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