Aussie Motoring

Honda has announced plans to have a completely new manufacturing plant on line in 2009 to produce 150,000 Civics and Fit models for the North American market. Reports suggest that the new plant will have the capacity to increase production to 300,000 models a year bringing Honda’s total capacity in North America to something around 1.8 million units a year.

Kia hasn’t been sitting back and taking things easy either. It’s currently in the final stages of bringing this large plant online in Zilina, Slovakia. It’s Kia’s first plant in Europe and construction has cost around one billion Euros.

When the plant is in full production it will be working round the clock to produce 300,000 units anually

Hyundai also has a new production facility in Europe.

Hyundai outsold Mitsubishi and moved up another place to claim sixth spot in the Australian car market in April with 3965 vehicles sold and a 5.8 percent share of the market, up 1.1 percent over April 2005.

Year-to-date, Hyundai has overtaken Honda and also moved up a place to sixth with 16,073 sales, accounting for 5.3 percent market share, 0.6 percent more than this time last year, according to official car industry figures for April released today by VFACTS.

At April’s end, Hyundai was up nine percent over the same period in 2005 while the 2006 total market was down 3.4 percent to date.

Hyundai was the only top ten car brand which sold more vehicles this April compared with April last year.

This was also Hyundai’s highest April sales in the last seven years.

In the SUV segment, Hyundai leapt to fifth in April from seventh in March, with Tucson moving up to fourth most popular Compact SUV from sixth in March.

Hyundai retained its fifth rank in passenger car sales with a year-to-date market share moving up 1.0 percent to 7.2 percent.

The all-new 2007 Elantra makes its world debut today at the 2006 New York International Auto Show. Hyundai’s 2007 Elantra is the seventh all-new model from Hyundai in just 24 months, giving Hyundai the freshest lineup in the industry. All new from headlight to taillight, Elantra brings more refinement, safety and interior space to compact car shoppers.

Follow the link to read about the new Hyundai Elantra 2007

The March US sales figures must be rather perplexing for executives at Hyundai. Sales of the Elantra dropped 9.6%, sales of the Accent dropped 44.6% and sales of the Santa Fe and Tucson dropped a combined 22.9%.

But sales of the Sonata increased by 53.8% and that meant that total Hyundai sales for March were up 4.3% and 6% for the year.

At last I have actually seen one up close and personal and my wife and I sat in one at the Brisbane Motor Show while an eager young salesman practiced his sales pitch on us.

And our impression was … for $42,990 we will quite happily stick with our 2000 model..

My wife’s impression of the driver’s seat was that it was very comfortable. My impression of the passenger seat was that I’ve been more comfortable and clapped-out cabs.

Those motoring journalists who thought that the woodwork around the 2000 Grandeur was overdone should be quite happy with the woodwork in the new model – it looks as though it was added as an afterthought. Much of the woodwork from the 2000 model has been replaced with metal grillwork that reminded both of us of the back of a cheap computer box.

The choice of colours for the interior trim was curious. The car was black, the seats and trim were a light cream/caramel colour while the console between the front seats has some purple in it.

Speaking of the seats – here was a display model at a major motor show and the upholstery on one of the front seats was crinkled and didn’t look as though it fitted properly

The model certainly comes with some nice additions – side airbags were impressive and the courtesy light that comes on when the passenger opens the vanity mirror in the sun visor was interesting but over-all, we were disappointed.

But of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you’re impressions could be quite different to ours.

Despite what we were told by a salesman at our local Hyundai dealer several weeks ago the new Grandeur is here and it is being advertised by the local dealer. So what do we have and is it really going to be worth the money.

Sadly if you go to the Hyundai website you’re not going to see much more of the car this this:

and just for a comparison here was the last model Grandeur that was sold in Australia:

Call me old-fashioned if you like but the new body shape does not have me rushing off to the dealer with my cheque book in hand. But then beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you might think that the new body style is wonderful.

There are two models in the range - the V6 and the Limited with prices of $42,990 and $46,990. Equipment levels in both models are good and, unlike the previous Grandeur, both models have leather trim as standard.

One thing that I certainly appreciated in the old Grandeur was the leg-room for both front and rear passengers and that seems to have been carried over to the new Grandeur too. Boot space is good and you would be surprised what you can pack into the boot of one of these cars. The security officer at the Bass Straight ferry terminal at Deveonport couldn’t believe it either when he looked in our boot when we were moving from Tasmania to Queensland.

Everything seems to look rather good in the new car until you get it out onto the road where several journalists have noted that it’s handling and acceleration leave something to be desired. I’ve yet to drive one but my old Grandeur is not the fastest off the mark but still accelerates well at speed and apparently handles much better than the new version.

For a full and comprehensive road test of the new Hyundai Grandeur go here.

I guess the one unanswered question about the new Grandeur is what Hyundai will do if sales don’t reach the target. I can remember reading a report in 2000 where the head of the company that was importing them at the time assured potential purchases that they would do nothing to undermine the value of the car.

A month or so after we bought ours the importers started selling Grandeurs to car hire companies and today our $41,000 Grandeur XG is worth less than $9,000 (and that is with lower than average kilometres on the clock).

If you’re thinking of buying a small car and price is the only consideration then here are a few baseline prices that might interest you.

Ford Fiesta $13,990

Holden Barina (a rebadged Daewoo Kalos) $12,990

Hyunda Getz $13,990

Kia Rio $14990

Toyota Yaris $14,990

So obviously the Holden Barina is definitely going to interest you but remember, you get what you pay for and it seems that many small car buyers are opting for the Yaris. Reportedly the Yaris sold in bigger numbers in December than the new Mitsubishi 380.

The motoring industry in the United States is going through it’s annual round of car awards and one of the first is the Roand and Travel Magazine International Card of the Year Awards.

Typically the Americans give a world title to something that only applies in the US but still it’s interesting to see what did and what didn’t impress the judges this year.

Of the 11 winners only a few are readily available here in Australia but it’s interesting to see that the Hyundai Sonata won a category that should appeal to lots of potential new car owners.

You can find a full list of the winners - complete with photographs - right here

Back in November Aussie Motoring posted some comments about the Hyundai Sonata. It seemed to attract mixed reviews from motoring journalists here in Australia that were somewhat at variance with what Sonota owners ,that we have spoken to, have to say about the car.

Those reviewes are also at variance with what motoring journalists in the US seem to say. Over there the Hyndai Sonata has been very well received and has even made it to least one top ten list for 2005.

You will find that list here.

Motoring journalists do not have an easy job. You might think that there would better job than driving around in new cars all the time. But it must be so difficult to remain objective about each individual car when you do that all the time.

I mean how can you remain objective about a Kia Sorento as you drive it this week when the car you drove last week was a Lancer Evolution?

Despite those problems most motoring writers in Australia do manage to remain objective and that’s why it’s interesting to see what some motoring journos consider to be the worst cars of 2005.

Kia Sorento - Stephen Scorby considered that calling the Sorento a lemon was an insult to citrus fruit and suggested that the car was made out of egg cartons and pipe cleaners

Kia Sportage - Paul Pottinger found that both he and Stephen Scorby became highly agitated when they tackled their first roundabout in a Sportage.

Nissan Pathfinder - Samantha Stevens found that driving the Pathfinder reminded her of driving a tractor with a flat tyre. (Now having actually done that makes me wonder whether any vehicle certified safe to use on our roads could really be that bad)

Holden Barina - Isaac Bober decided that the Daewoo sourced Barina was a huge disappointment and a “pathetic imitation” of what the market once loved back in the beep beep Barina days.

I don’t know about those vehicles, I haven’t driven any of them yet, but I began to find that my Hyundai Grandeur XG started to suck majorly as soon as it ran out of warranty in March this year. It was then that I realised that the Grandeur wasn’t really a car but more a collection of very expensive spare parts that moved along the road in very close proximity to each other.