SPY PICS: Baby Hyundai rebirth in 2013

The Hyundai i10 shown in these pics is new from the ground up, but as the spy photographers at Carparazzi have said, that glasshouse and beltline look very similar to the current car's.

According to Carparazzi, the new model will be launched at Frankfurt in September next year, as a 2014 model. It will reportedly feature engines carried over from the current range, including 1.1 and 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engines. Hyundai, in global markets, has canned the diesel powerplant for the current generation of i10 and there are apparently no plans to reintroduce an oiler to the next model.

What Hyundai will do instead is offer an LPG-fuelled engine — a 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine based on the company's Kappa architecture and shared with the Kia Picanto. The gas-fuelled triple is not the only thing shared with the Picanto, the i10 migrating to the Kia's platform.

Testing of the new car in the field has only just begun, naturally, since its global debut remains over 12 months away. The spy photographer who caught the car out in public says that new daytime running lights are co-located with the new car's fog lights.

Will it come to Australia? The current car has not achieved five-star safety in Euro NCAP testing — and that is the reason given by Hyundai Australia for not bringing the current i10 here — but the new car could  conceivably secure a five-star rating, as the Toyota iQ and the Volkswagen up! have done.

The current Picanto is in the same ballpark as the Toyota and the Volkswagen for passenger and pedestrian safety, but is let down badly by lack of safety assist features, including standard stability control — which is mandatory in Victoria and would have to be fitted to any new passenger car going on sale here. It's a very strong likelihood that the next-generation i10 and Picanto will be fitted with whatever safety equipment is needed to reach that all-important five-star rating.

And when or if the i10 is five-star certified, the way is clear for it to come to Australia, isn't it?

Not necessarily. Hyundai Australia has put many stumbling blocks in the way of the i10 coming here in the past. The safety issue was just the latest in a line of reasons given for not bringing the Indian-built car to Australia, including currency exchange rates, brand management, market acceptance and the logistics of sourcing the cars from the Hyundai factory in Chennai.

So don't hold your breath, although perhaps the i10 will be held in reserve, in the event that Chinese brands start snatching market share from Hyundai in the light-car market segment.

— with Carparazzi

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