Global guidelines derail Hyundai 'i' names

The car we know in Australia as the i45 would have been sold here instead as the Sonata, if it had been released 12 months later. Similarly, the ix35 would have been marketed here as the Hyundai Tucson if it had been launched in 2011.

"If Sonata [the i45] had been launched this year, we would have adopted the global guidelines and it would have been called 'Sonata'," Hyundai Australia's Senior Manager for PR and Events, Ben Hershman explained to Australian journalists in Korea this week.

Apparently a new model naming policy has been implemented since some of the high-profile 'i'-branded models arrived here. From the introduction of the i30 in 2007, the importer in Australia settled on the European system of employing an 'i'-prefixed name — i20, i30, ix35, i45, iLoad, iMax — in favour of the previous nomenclature.

In such circumstances, the new MD Series Elantra, which is already on sale in South Korea and North America, would have sold in Australia as something like the i35. Instead, it is being launched here as the Elantra — a name already well known to past Hyundai owners.

Since the launch of the i45 and ix35, Hershman reveals, Hyundai Motor Corporation (HMC) has directed HMCA (Australia) to limit the use of the i-prefixed names to vehicles that are designed principally for Europe. That means the i40 wagon coming our way will remain named so here, but the Veloster won't get an 'i' name.

Hyundai in Australia was previously in an unusual position — Hershman suggested Singapore as one other market in a similar situation — in needing cars that weren't sold in Europe to be sold here with the European nomenclature. The i45 is one example. It's not sold in Europe and in most other markets it remains the Hyundai Sonata.

The new guidelines from the manufacturer's head office at least clear away some confusion for regional offices like HMCA. But it does leave the Australian arm reliant on aging names that may not have the same cachet that the very '21st Century' appeal of the 'i' names seemed to exude. Hershman did rule out renaming the i45 to 'Sonata' for this generation at least, but if the car continues to be sold elsewhere as the Sonata — into the next generation — that seems likely to be the name the car will wear when it arrives here.

However, as already mentioned, the i40 wagon will not be known by a name, per se. Nor will the i40 sedan, if that goes on sale here. Hershman says that is a possibility ("We're looking at it"), but also says that HMCA is not pushing for the sedan version of the i40 to come here; it's merely a case of the local product planners reviewing the business case for the car.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site