FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: New Hyundai i10

Hyundai has used this week’s Frankfurt motor show to announce a concentrated upsurge in its European activities, with 22 new models planned for launch over the next four years.

The incursion kicks off at the show with the launch of the all-new i10 city-mini – a car currently being assessed for viability by the company’s Australian office.

Company executives have said the majority of the launches in Europe will be overhauls of varying degrees, but among them will be all-new products such as a small crossover to fit in below the ix35, which Automotive News suggests could see showrooms by 2016.

The European announcement hails from a major rethink of its projections on the Continent, with dismal auto industry performance figures pushing its targeted five per cent market share by 2016 back to 2020.

The Korean marque’s European sales grew an average 10 per cent a year through 2011 and 2012, but took a dive with the rest of the market in the first half of this year. Even though the overall numbers are down, however, the company is maintaining its 2013 market share target of 3.5 per cent.

But continuity is by no means assured, with sales figures, particularly for the i10, pushed up artificially by cash-for-clunker schemes in a highly price-sensitive market atmosphere four years ago.

With around 75 per cent of the 3.3 million Hyundais on European roads less than seven years old, the company now faces keeping those buyers loyal in the open market, Hyundai Motor Europe COO Allan Rushforth told media. “Improving loyalty forms a key element of our plan to develop Hyundai in Europe,” he said.

The company has responded with a new i10 that’s not only bigger and better equipped than the outgoing model, but priced around the same as larger models from some competitors.

The i10 is a critical product at a critical time for the company, Mr Rushforth said, predicting the segment would grow to assume around a quarter of European sales by 2016. Hyundai has set an ambitious 74,000 target for the car there through 2014, equating to a 6.3 per cent market share – up from an average 5.9 per cent since the car debuted in 2007.

Asked which upcoming models will come to the Australian market, Hyundai Australia spokesman Bill Thomas told motoring.com.au that the local arm isn’t talking about anything beyond updates to the ix35 compact SUV and the Elantra sedan, both of which are scheduled for local launch by year’s end.

However, it’s clear that if Hyundai produced a smaller SUV model than the ix35, its subsidiary in Australia’s booming SUV market would be keen to take delivery, perhaps making it more likely for local consumption than the i10.

The i10 would be fighting a tough battle in a segment marked by razor-sharp pricing, said Thomas, who added: “But it’s a growing segment in Australia, and the new model is quite a bit bigger than the outgoing one, so it would surely be appealing to Australians and a very competitive package.”

Thomas reaffirmed Hyundai’s commitment to release the next-generation Genesis coupe in Australia but said that, like the i10, the Genesis sedan remains under consideration.

“We’re still reviewing the business model for both the i10 and the Genesis sedan. You can take it that we’ll definitely be taking the next Genesis Coupe, most likely within that four-year time-frame,” he said.

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