Last Getz hatches to go in August

Hyundai's small car hero for the past decade, the Getz hatch, will have found in excess of 158,000 homes and rental-car parking bays by the time the last one is sold in August.

The small-car stalwart – popular among first-car buyers and rental fleets alike because of its sharp price and low running costs – is being phased out after nine years on sale.

It will not be replaced once the remaining stock of 3000 cars is gone.

Last week, the car maker reported that the baby Hyundai i10 – once tipped as the Getz successor – is now not coming to Australia.

This week, executives said that the larger and dearer i20 hatch will fill the void left by the Getz – even though it has failed to match Getz sales to date.

"Getz has been a massive success story for us," said Hyundai Australia director of marketing Oliver Mann. "But its departure is not the end of the world."

He said that the majority of Getz sales were of the dearer models, rather than the heavily promoted $12,990 drive-away car.

"The interesting thing about Getz volume is that about 70 per cent of it is transacted at $15,000 or more with 1.6 [engines] and five doors [rather than the 1.3, three doors]," he said.

"Although on paper Getz looks like a big loss, the reality of the business is [that] it's focused on $15,000 and up and i20 is there and waiting. We're not worried."

The i20 has thus far failed to match the Getz's sales pace. In the first five months of this year the dearer i20 – some models cost as much as a Volkswagen Polo – has sold at just one-third the rate of the budget-priced Getz.

With the Getz gone it will be the first time in almost two decades that Hyundai has not had a $13,990 or less price-leader.

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