Showing posts with label Hyundai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hyundai. Show all posts

Friday, August 29, 2008

Hyundai tucson!!!

The Hyundai Tucson is a compact crossover SUV launched in 2005 by the Korean automaker Hyundai. It shares its Elantra-based platform with the redesigned 2005 Kia Sportage. The Tucson is slotted below the Santa Fe in the lineup. Tucson is known as a worldwide success in most countries because of its balance between comfort, space, and price.

Powertrains are a 2.0 L I4 with a five-speed, front-wheel drive manual transmission or optional four-speed automatic transmission with "sport shift" manual shifting capability or a 2.7 L V6 available with the automatic only. Four wheel drive is optional with a Borg-Warner torque controller system. In some markets, the Tucson is also available with a 2.0 L diesel engine equipped with common rail technology. The earlier diesels had 113 bhp, and the later ones 140 bhp and a 6 speed manual gearbox. These later models are capable of returning over 45 mpg with almost the same performance as the 2.7L petrol engined models.

In the United States, the Tucson is offered in base GLS, mid-line SE, and top-tier Limited (formerly LX) trim levels for 2007 models. Earlier 2005 and 2006 models were offered as GL/GLS/Limited. Standard equipment includes air conditioning, cruise control, six airbags, electronic stability control, a CD player, alloy wheels, remote keyless entry, and premium cloth seats. The SE adds to the roster with contrasting gray body cladding, a different alloy design, an AM/FM/Cassette/CD as well as fog lights and a front windshield wiper de-icing grid. The Limited adds leather seating surfaces, a 6-disc in dash CD changer, body-colored cladding, automatic climate control, and heated seats. The SE and Limited are only available with the 2.7-liter V6. The GLS comes only with the 2.0-liter four cylinder.

The Tucson offers modest cargo space but its easy-to-fold seats can expand this volume. Even the front passenger seat folds flat for extra-long cargo. All Tucsons come with this feature.
One major selling point of the Tucson is its safety feature content. There are dual-stage frontal impact airbags, torso side-impact airbags built into the front seats, and curtain airbags for side-impact protection for front and rear passengers. The front passenger airbag has a deactivation feature where if the seat is unoccupied, the airbag will not deploy in the event of a frontal collision, saving on repair costs.

The Tucson received accolades from Canadian Car of the Year Best New Crossover award for 2005.
Changes for 2006 were minimal. The LX became the Limited and got color-coded cladding, automatic climate control, and a high-performance sound system . The GLS retained the gray cladding but 'HYUNDAI' is no longer branded into the cladding on the front doors. The GLS also got improved cloth seats with the option of a heating element. Both GLS and Limited got redesigned alloy wheels. The base GL remains unchanged.
Changes for 2007 were also minimal. The GL and GLS trims were renamed to GLS and SE, respectively, to match the standard for all new Hyundai vehicles.
Changes for 2009 is the replacement of the GLS to the 25th Anniversary Edition. It includes a powered sunroof and a new Kenwood audio system with a Garmin GPS unit.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Hyundai verna,the beast!!!

Okay, before you ask, this car is not replacing the Accent. What you are looking at is the new Hyundai Verna, launched in september 06'.
In Europe and in the US, the Verna is known as the Accent because it just replaced the facelifted version of the one that's still doing sterling service in India.
In India however, the Verna is positioned at a segment above the Accent... which means it will take on the invincible Honda City, while also facing off with the Ford Fiesta and Chevrolet Aveo. So does the new Verna have what it takes? Let's have a look.
The Verna is larger than the Accent in all aspects, but more importantly, it comes with a longer wheelbase than the above-mentioned competition. Which translates to better room, especially for rear passengers. Dimensionally, it is similar to the City, though it does not look as funky as the Honda.
In terms of appearance, the new Verna will not exactly set your pulse racing, but it is neat and well-tucked in like a well-groomed schoolboy.
While the Honda looks avant garde, the Verna looks contemporary, almost a generation ahead compared to the architecture of the Fiesta and Aveo. If you remove the Hyundai logo, and fit the Toyota badge, it won't look out of place either, it's that safe when it comes to design. And comparable in build quality too.
Hyundai's now putting together cars better than ever before, and the Verna comes through as a quality product with tight shutlines and an attention to detail.
The overall layout of the interiors are not that exceptional, but the quality of materials used in Hyundais has been substantially improving. The look of the entire dash is more Korean rather than European (like in the Getz and Sonata), but expect it to be comprehensively equipped.
But a contemporary design language, quality materials and better engineering tolerances is not enough for the Verna to grab some market share.
What's critical is the drivetrain package, and it looks as if Hyundai has done its homework in this area. Two all-new four-cylinder engines are on offer, a 1600cc CVVT petrol and a 1500cc CRDi.
A new five-speed manual gearbox will transfer the power to the front wheels, that promises to be much more crisp than the one in the Accent. The 1599cc all-aluminium gasoline motor is from Hyundai's new Gamma family and features double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and Continuous Variable Valve Technology.
Which means a free-revving engine that, with CVVT, will save fuel at lower revs and offer better performance at higher rpm. Developing 110 bhp at 6000 rpm and 14.8 kgm of torque at 4500 revs, this engine looks quite fit and ready to take on the City VTEC and the 1.6 variants of both the Fiesta and Aveo.
Still, the engine to watch out for is the new CRDi motor. The Accent, with the three-cylinder CRDi engine was no shrinking violet, and now, the Verna's diesel version will just put that in retrospective.
Firstly, it is now complete, with the addition of a cylinder. Then, it incorporates a variable geometry turbocharger, which makes it less wild than the three-cylinder CRDi, allowing for seamless and virtually lag-free performance.
And boy, will it be torquey! Displacing 1493cc, this new CRDi motor develops 108 bhp at 4000 rpm, and a whopping 23.8 kgm of torque between 1900 and 2750 rpm.
That's better than the turbodiesel that all performance enthusiasts love, the Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi, and comes close to the Laura's 25 kgm. If Hyundai manages to keep these figures intact without having to modify them to adapt to Indian fuel quality and operating conditions, then we'll have a diesel car for petrolheads indeed.
The suspension setup on offer includes McPherson struts at front and torsion beam axle at the rear. Of course, the whole setup will be modified to adapt to Indian conditions, in terms of being able to tackle bad roads, while keeping the ride comfortable for the rear passengers.
The new Verna has spent some serious time at Hyundai's proving grounds at Namyang in South Korea to get its ride and handling sorted, while its architecture is stiffer than the Accent - allowing it to give a more integrated feel. But we'll wait for a full test in India to tell you how good its dynamics are.
So will the new Hyundai Verna manage to garner some marketshare at the expense of the strongly entrenched competition?
A safe reply would be it depends on the pricing. Expect the Verna to be competitively priced - between Rs 6.5 and Rs 7.5 lakh - and loaded with plenty of equipment too, including safety features and other modern conveniences.

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

India,the small car hub for hyundai!!!

The $75-billion Hyundai Motors, the world's fifth largest auto maker, has decided to make India its global hub for small cars, the company's chief executive for the Indian market has said.
'We have a very clear picture about the Indian market. We want to use India as our small car hub. India will be used for manufacturing and export of our small cars,' Heung Soo Lheem, managing director of Hyundai Motors India Ltd said.
'Our upcoming i20 model, which will debut in the Paris Motor Show in September, will be solely manufactured in India,' Heung, whose company is India's second largest car maker after Maruti Suzuki, told IANS in an interview.
The automaker, which sells its cars in as many as 193 countries, had launched the i10 - its new offering in the 'A' segment - last November. This car, too, is exclusively manufactured in India, he said.
The Hyundai executive said i20 is a hatchback sedan offering in the 'B' segment. 'This car will hit the Indian market in November,' he said, while rubbishing reports that the company will phase out the Santro and Getz, post i20 launch.
Santro, which is sold as Atos in Hyundai's other markets, was used as the launch pad for the South Korean giant's foray into the Indian automobile market over ten years ago.
'When i10 was launched, it was tagged as a successor to Santro. We will continue to have the cars in our 'A' segment. Similarly, i20 is not a successor to Getz. We will strengthen our line-up giving more options to our customers.'
Heung did not disclose the price at which the new car from the Hyundai stable will be sold in India, but indicated that it will compete with Skoda's Fabia and Ford Fusion.
'We haven't yet decided the pricing. It'll be a little more than the Getz,' he said about the car which sells at between Rs.400,000 and Rs.600,000 in the Indian market.
The South Korean automobile giant sold 327,160 vehicles in India in 2007 and had doubled its assembly line at the Chennai plant to 600,000 units annually this January.
'We have set a target of 530,000 vehicles for the domestic as well as export market for this year,' Heung said. 'But rising fuel prices and inflationary pressures are taking a toll on sales,' he added.
'June, especially, was a tough month for us. Issues like inflation, economic slowdown and skyrocketing oil prices led to slow sales. Credit was denied to our prospective customers because of tight monetary policy,' he said.
'Things are not particularly bright even right now. But we hope after Tuesday's vote in the parliament, economy will pick its pace up.'
Hyundai Motors India - which counts actor Shahrukh Khan and tennis ace Sania Mirza as its brand ambassadors - is part of South Korea's Hyundai Kia Motors Automotive Group, formed after the merger between Hyundai and Kia in 1998.
Kia - the official sponsor of the Australian Open grand slam tournament - has a presence in the European and North American markets apart from the domestic market in South Korea.
Kia and Hyundai do have overlapping interests in certain markets, but the group has no plans to launch the Kia brand in the India, Heung explained.

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