Veracruz signals Hyundai's luxury intent

HYUNDAI’S fourth-generation Elantra completes the total renewal of the South Korean brand’s five-seat passenger car line-up, but don’t think the fifth all-new model to be launched in Australia in the past 12 months will be followed by a lull in the ambitious car-maker’s new-model rollout.

As part of its plan to sell five million vehicles annually and become one of the world’s five top-selling car-makers by 2010 (Hyundai jumped Nissan to claim sixth behind General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler following an 11.6 percent jump in global sales in 2005 to 3,715,096 units), it remains committed to producing two all-new models every year.

Locally, Hyundai Motor Company Australia (HMCA) plans to sell more than 50,000 vehicles for the first time in 2006 – a five per cent increase on 2005 figures and well up on its 2003 tally of just over 30,000 vehicles. Year-to-date, HMCA sales are up two per cent despite a three per cent slide in total Australian vehicles sales so far in 2006.

Just three months after releasing all-new versions of its Santa Fe medium 4WD and light-sized Accent sedan and (three-door) hatch, Hyundai last week launched its all-new Elantra sedan, which does not actually replace the current XD Elantra sedan until October.

The US-oriented Elantra sedan will be followed by German-designed five-door (FD) wagon and hatch body derivatives next year (the latter will form the basis of Hyundai’s 2007 WRCar), followed in 2008 by a folding metal-roofed coupe-convertible. But, just as Accent will not be available as a five-door, do not expect a three-door iteration of the new Elantra.

Hyundai says it expects the bigger new Elantra to have little impact on sales of Hyundai’s new medium sedan launched last September (Sonata is currently being tested by Victoria Police as part of what could become a lucrative fleet deal for HMCA), let alone its new-generation Grandeur flagship launched in February.

Left: Hyundai's Accent SR turbo concept is expected to become a production reality in 2007.Next cab off the Hyundai rank will be the Santa Fe CRDi variant, which the company says will be one of the first soft-roader diesels available here. Available in New Zealand since May and on sale in Europe and the US since early this year, the 1823kg CRDi is powered by a 110kW/335Nm common-rail SOHC 2.2-litre four-cylinder variable-geometry turbo-diesel that returns a claimed EU average fuel consumption of 7.3L/100km.

The new Elantra sedan and oil-burning Santa Fe, which HMCA says could attract up to 30 per cent of all Santa Fe sales at the expense of some petrol sales, will feature at the Syndey motor show in October.

A cosmetically facelifted Tiburon coupe surfaced in China last month and will go on sale here by February, while a production version of the turbocharged Accent SR hatch concept revealed at this year’s Melbourne motor show is yet to be approved by Seoul. HMCA says the business case was presented in April and insiders are confident of a 2007 release.

A Hyundai-badged version of the Kia Carnival like that sold in North America has not been approved for Australia, leaving the aged Trajet (which allegedly "has a few more years left") as Hyundai’s sole people-mover offering - at least in the medium term.

Finally, for now, Hyundai’s luxury-oriented medium-large crossover 4WD - codenamed EN, based on the Genus concept from Geneva in March and recently approved for production under the name Veracruz – could be the first model to be sold under Hyundai’s long-mooted, but yet-to-be-announced luxury brand.

The likelihood of a Lexus-style luxury division to match Toyota gained weight two weeks ago when Hyundai officially announced it has no plans to buy Ford’s upmarket Jaguar brand – and again last week at the local Elantra launch, where senior HMCA officials talked freely about the concept.

"EN could be the beginning of our new luxury brand," said HMCA sales and marketing director Theo van Doore, who has driven the Veracruz but admits the US-targeted model is not yet approved for right-hand-drive production.

"Hyundai is developing the concept of a new luxury brand – a little bit like Lexus.

"I don’t know what the strategy will be, but given the success of Lexus in the US you can understand its significance. We’re a brand that’s on the cusp. We spend a lot of money on R&D but we’re very careful how we do it," Mr van Doore told GoAuto.

Officially, the Veracruz (named after the Mexican state) will be the ninth model to join Hyundai’s US range for 2007 and will be targeted at luxury SUVs like the Lexus RX350, Honda Pilot (MDX), Nissan Murano and forthcoming models like Mazda’s CX-7 and Subaru’s Tribeca.

While the 2+2 Genus coupe-wagon crossover concept was powered by Hyundai’s 2.2-litre CRDi turbo-diesel, the Santa Fe-based seven-seat all-wheel drive Veracruz will be powered by a 3.8-litre V6. Riding on a 2850mm wheelbase, Veracruz is 4750mm long, 1870mm wide and 1565mm high.

Veracruz will also feature a six-speed automatic transmission, standard ESC stability control and standard side and side curtain airbags, and is claimed to offer more cargo space than the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GL-class.

A new 4.6-litre DOHC 32-valve V8, first revealed in Hyundai’s Neos-3 Tokyo show car, is also on the cards for the Veracruz - and could also power a BH-codenamed rear-drive luxury sedan, which may replace the current (front-drive) Equus sedan sold in overseas markets and will be targeted at the likes of Lexus’ GS and BMW’s 5 Series.

What's coming from Hyundai:
HD Elantra sedan redesign	October
CM Santa Fe CRDi turbo-diesel variant	October
Tiburon coupe facelift	February 2007
FD Elantra five-door hatch	Mid-2007
FD Elantra five-door wagon	Mid-2007
MC Accent SR turbo hatch variant	2007
FD Elantra coupe-convertible	2008
EN Veracruz crossover	2009
BH luxury sedan	2010