2011 Hyundai Sonata Limited on 2040-cars

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Why BMWs are cheaper than Hyundais in Korea

Bloomberg reports shifting tariff regulations have upended the traditional automotive pecking order in Korea. Thanks to cheaper import taxes, foreign brands have seen market share jump from 28 percent to 41 percent over the last two years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have all capitalized on the shift, with domestics like Hyundai and Kia suffering at the hands of their German rivals.
Taxes on European imports have fallen from 8 percent in 2011 to just 3.2 percent today. Over the next few years, tariffs will all but be eliminated for most imports, and taxes on US-made vehicles are expected to fall to just 4 percent in 2014. By 2016, that number will be zero. Needless to say, Hyundai and Kia are concerned about the shift.
Hyundai has seen profit fall by 15 percent last quarter, and the company says it is on pace to see the slowest sales growth since 2007. The company's shares have fallen by 12 percent. In order to stem the losses, Hyundai has discounted its midsize sedans and started working on diesel engine options.

2013 Hyundai i10 gets Frankfurt showing, official engine lineup [w/videos]

Hyundai strutted its tiny but fashionable i10 onto the Frankfurt floor today, showing off the new, second-generation city car to the assembled media. The i10 was originally unveiled in August, although at the time, we didn't have much info on powertrains or other items.
Europe, where the i10 will be sold, gets a pair of gas-powered engines from Hyundai's Kappa family, displacing 998cc and 1.25 liters, respectively. The smaller, three-cylinder engine is limited to just 65 horsepower and 69 pound-feet of torque. It's also available with an LPG option, which adds one hp at the cost of three lb-ft of torque. Opt for the 1.25-liter, four-cylinder mill and you'll get a positively reckless 85 horsepower and 88 pound-feet of torque. Both engines are available with the driver's choice of a five-speed stick or a four-speed automatic.
Lack of thrust aside, can we all agree that the i10 is a sharp looking city car? It's compact dimensions belie a reasonable amount of cabin space, all in a wrapper of the stylish, fluid lines that Hyundai is known for. We'd argue it looks even better in these pictures than it did the first time we saw it. Hop up top for our live images from Frankfurt, or scroll down to the bottom for an official press release and images from Hyundai. The company's European arm as also assembled quite a number of Q&A style videos about the new car, for your edification.

How Hyundai lost momentum, and will 'take a few years' to recover

SEOUL/DETROIT/CHONGQING, China — At a near-empty Hyundai Motor showroom in the Chinese mega city of Chongqing, the store manager is grumbling about his shortage of customers and a lack of bigger, cheaper SUV models popular in the world's largest auto market. Even with discounting of as much as 25 percent, his dealership was selling barely a hundred vehicles a month, said the manager surnamed Li. A nearby Nissan dealership was selling about 400 vehicles a month, a store manager there said. "The sales are simply poor," Li told Reuters. "Look at the Nissan store next door, they have tens of customers while we just have two." An hour's drive away is Hyundai's massive $1 billion manufacturing plant, which opened last year with a target to produce 300,000 vehicles per year. But with sales weak and the Chinese auto market slowing sharply, the factory is running at roughly 30 percent of capacity, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The sources asked not to be identified because the information was not public. Hyundai, the world's fifth largest automaker, declined to comment on the Chongqing plant's production or the showroom's sales but said it is "closely cooperating" with local partner BAIC to turn around the China business. BAIC did not respond to requests for comment. Hyundai's woes mark a major reversal for the automaker which was an early success story in China as it quickly and cheaply rolled out popular new models into a surging market. In 2009, Hyundai and partner Kia's combined sales ranked third in China after General Motors and Volkswagen. The South Korean duo now ranks ninth, and its market share in China was 4 percent last year, from more than10 percent at the beginning of this decade. Executives and industry experts say Hyundai conceded its once stronghold in the low-end segment to fast-growing Chinese rivals such as Geely and BYD. Foreign rivals not only defended their turf in premium segments but also kept pricing competitive for mass-market models, squeezing Hyundai's positioning as an affordable foreign brand, they said. In the United States, the world's second-biggest auto market, Hyundai's market share fell to 4 percent last year, near a decade low. Hyundai ran into problems in China and the United States for similar reasons: It missed shifts in consumer tastes, especially the surge in demand for SUVs, and it sought higher prices than its brand image could command, four Chinese dealers and half a dozen former and current U.S.