New Hyundai i30 to break $20K nexus

The days of $19,990 driveway small cars Down Under may be drawing to a close. That’s the message from Hyundai Australia sales boss, Scott Grant.

In 2016 Hyundai’s top-seller, the i30, sold for much of the year from under the $20K price point in spite of a recommended retail price in the $21-22K range. With the arrival of an upgraded third-generation model imminent, Grant is signaling an end to that practice.

Speaking at a preview drive of the new PD-generation i30N in Korea, Grant said it was likely the price of the Korean brand’s “DNA car” would rise.

“I would doubt it,” Grant said when quizzed on the availability of a $19,990 PD i30.

Hyundai Australia is yet to confirm model grades equipment levels or pricing for the new generation i30. In fact, it cautions that that information may not be finalised until just weeks before the car arrives in April. But it’s clear the company is softening us up for a price rise.

A significant upgrade in connectivity, quality and dynamic safety aids including autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control sees the i30 now on at least a level playing field with its key competitors in the small car segment, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla.

In fact, the new i30 was benchmarked against the Volkswagen Golf, says Hyundai.

Grant says the new car delivers more value than the outgoing GD-generation i30. But he is nonetheless conscious of the super-competitive nature of the segment.

“We benchmarked the Mazda3, Corolla and ourselves -- that's where the action is all the time and depending on offers in the market, the spec, everything else, we know pretty much where we sit.”

When asked whether the new car justified a price rise, he stated: “Sure, I think there is [more] value in the new car compared to a car that's in its final year of operation -- the technology and some other aspects of the car.”

Grant says the PD series i30 delivers “a step change even at the entry-level”.

“That needs to be recovered in some extent in terms of pricing,” Grant stated.

Grant says Hyundai is not consciously seeking to move the new i30 into “more premium” territory, but he believes there is an opportunity to reduce the car’s volume reliance on cheap entry-level models.

“We don't have a particular desire to be more premium with this car… Fundamentally the car is aimed at that [lower cost] sub segment in the passenger market and like any market segment there is a price point and a range…

“[But] I think you’ll see the [model variant] mix will richen. I think we will sell less at the entry level and that may mean that the segment changes in terms of volume at the [particular $20K] price point,” he explained.

“I think there is real opportunity at the mid and higher grades that have been flowing into some competitor models. Ours [sales volume] has been disproportionately at the entry level.”

Grant says the company believes the i30 will performs well in the sales race but cautions there are no #1 targets.

“I'd like [i30] to be best seller because I just love to win but we don't… have a target to be number one in that segment against those competitors.

“That's not how we are set up. We very much set up our own internal targets,” Grant stated.