Hyundai's high hopes for Euro-spec i40

Hyundai is confident the i40 wagon will meet consumer expectations when the new model reaches Australia later this year.

Designed at the company's facility in Russelsheim, Germany, the i40 is built on the same platform as the i45 sedan, but has been tuned from the beginning for European drivers and conditions. It should ensure that the wagon will provide a better drive for enthusiasts than the i45 did when it was launched here originally.

But the i40 won't just spring forth, fully-formed and ready to cope with the Australian road network. As with other Hyundai models in the recent past, the i40 has had suspension and steering tweaked to suit the local driving environment, says Andrew Tuitahi, Product Planning Manager for Hyundai Motor Corporation Australia (HMCA). Speaking with motoring.com.au during the launch of the new Accent earlier this week, Tuitahi offered his opinion that the i40 provided a different set of tuning parameters for local engineers, despite being built on the same platform as the i45.

"[i40] is a different base; the benchmarks that are used to develop the cars vary by market..." he said. 

"[The] i45 — or Sonata in the US — was benchmarked against US Accord and Camry. It fundamentally is a very different car to the i40, which was benchmarked against Passat, Mondeo, Toyota Avensis... so quite a different baseline...

"That said, the car that arrived was on European settings, and we tested that thoroughly and still determined that there were several areas that could be improved for the demanding conditions here. We've focused on those and the results are outstanding."

Tuitahi was reluctant to reveal what changes were required for the Australian market, but European cars don't always measure up for bump absorption and tyre noise, to name a couple of possible points.

The importer's procedure for ensuring cars measure up dynamically for the local market has evolved over time. In the case of the i20, the locals concentrated on the car's steering and not much else, but the Elantra and the Accent, both released since Tuitahi joined the company, have had the works.

"The process that we follow for the local tuning program typically involves... an early pre-production car in the country," he explained. "We would evaluate that car to get a baseline measurement; we'd feed back what we thought about the car on our roads, what components might need to be changed — in order to achieve a perfect balance for the Australian market.

"Once that's fed back into the Korean R&D centre, they'll work on collecting a set of parts — so we'll get a parts box come over, comprising of springs, valving for a damper kit, alternative stabiliser bars... and we'll also test different tyres..."

From there, ground zero for the car's development moves to Australia, where the damper supplier, a Hyundai engineer usually attached to the company's proving ground and a qualified test engineer all join the local team, made up of product planners, local engineers and an occasional consultant for high-speed driving.

"We'll use a large number of roads around multiple areas; quite aggressive, in terms of dynamics — lots of undulations, off-camber corners, potholes, mid-corner bumps, roads like that," Tuitahi continued. "And then also a lot of time in the urban environment."

The roads chosen will vary, depending on the target buyer of the car, Tuitahi observed. A car such as the Elantra or i20 might spend more time testing on urban roads, but a larger car might be tested over longer sections of open road. Ultimately too, the car is set up to suit the target buyer — not just journalists.

"The product planning team, aside from being responsible for participating in the ride, handling and tuning, we'll study the competitive set, have a look at who the benchmarks are for the vehicle that we're tuning, and define what the character of that car should be..." Tuitahi also noted. That might explain how the i45 finished up with suspension and steering tune that met with objection from the motoring press, although Tuitahi says that the current process is much further evolved than it was when the i45 was under development for Australia.

For a variety of reasons, the i45 met with a negative reaction from local press for its steering and handling. Reacting swiftly, Hyundai had requested the factory re-configure the large car's dynamics and a revised model reached showrooms within a matter of months after its local launch. Asked whether the factory was aware of feedback from the local media and how the engineering staff at Namyang responded, Tuitahi replied in the only sensible way he could.

"I'm sure that there was some disappointment, which was quickly quelled by the sales results. The car hit the mark, in terms of the people that buy that car..."

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