Hyundai's name game

2010 is shaping up to be a busy year for Hyundai locally. On the launch front, the importer plans a new SUV for next month, a new small car for March and a mid-size passenger car before the middle of the year.

"We're getting ready for the ix35 launch next month, which we're really excited about," said Ben Hershman, Senior Manager Product Communications & PR for Hyundai Australia.

Hershman confirmed to the Carsales Network the information released last week, that the vehicle to supersede the Tucson SUV will be named ix35 for the Australian market. There had been some doubt as to whether the new model would be named ix35 here. It would mean re-establishing the compact SUV model in the market with a new nameplate, balanced against Hyundai Australia's migration towards the European i-prefix nomenclature.

"Interestingly, where there's some confusion... in Europe it will be 'ix35', in Korea it's 'Tucson ix' and in North America it's 'Tucson'," explained Hershman. He also confirmed that the i20, a car which will slot in between the Getz and the i30 small car will be launched the month after the ix35.

"The one [name] that's unconfirmed is the YF, the mid-size sedan," he continued.

This vehicle, which was presented as the new Sonata at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit earlier this month, has already been on sale in its home market of South Korea, where it has set a new record for sales -- about 100,000 units since its retail launch in September.

The 'YF' is also marketed in South Korea as Sonata and it is definitely coming to Australia, but it may not be known here as the Sonata. Hyundai has not formally announced that it will wear the long-standing Sonata badge here. With i20 and ix35 on the way, i10 mooted and i30, iLoad and iMax already here, the importer presumably wants to carry an alike name through to the YF as well. That i-prefix naming convention is a European initiative however, and the new 'Sonata' is not slated for European markets.

"It doesn't have a name in European markets yet," says Hershman.

"It's on sale in Korea -- as Sonata. It's on sale in the US, just rolled out in the LA and Detroit shows, as Sonata. I'm not sure how far west of here it goes, in terms of Europe and so on."

Hershman didn't know whether the new model would make it to Europe at all, which confuses the naming issue, since there won't be an i-prefix name coined for the car as a matter of course -- or not necessarily anyway.

If the car is to be sold here in Australia with an i-prefix name -- 'i40' perhaps? -- that name could be exclusive to the Australian market, unless other markets follow suit -- markets like New Zealand, for one.

Stay tuned for our product news on the YF Sonata from the NAIAS in Detroit.

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