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Feann Torr13 Dec 2014
NEWS

Hyundai Veloster axed in UK

But it's all systems go for the facelifted model due to arrive here in 2015

Sluggish sales of the quirky Hyundai Veloster coupe have seen it boned from the UK market, just three years after going on sale there. And in many European markets only the top-spec 150kW Veloster Turbo is offered, as demand for the car begins to wane.

Sales of the Veloster in the UK totalled around 2200 units
since launch in 2011. By contrast, Australians buy more than 3000 Velosters per annum.

Hyundai Motor UK's Head of PR, Natasha Waddington, told motoring.com.au "I can confirm that HMUK will cease to sell the Veloster."

She noted that the importer will instead introduce a new-look turbo-petrol warm hatch version of the i30, which was revealed this week.

"So we have decided to focus attention on bringing that to market as we believe it will offer a stronger proposition for UK customers" said Waddington.

In other European markets the 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated base model Veloster has been dropped, with only the 150kW 1.6-litre turbo-petrol sold in regions such as France and Belgium.

The UK was one of the only other large right-hand drive markets still selling the car, after Hyundai pulled out of Japan in 2009. So where does that leave the Veloster for the Australian market?

Safe and sound, it turns out.

A mid-life update will bring a new look to the Veloster as we've seen in recent spy photos. It will be revealed soon and Hyundai Australia's General Manager Public Relations, Bill Thomas, confirmed the car will be imported here.

"There's no change on Veloster for us — it's selling well in Australia and we will introduce the facelift next year," he said.

Thomas wouldn't be drawn on the details of the facelift, but based on how the camouflage is pasted to the car in the spy photos it appears as though front and rear styling will be updated.

We expect the new model to go on sale in the first quarter of 2015 and the entry-level to be retained as the 150kW Veloster SR Turbo is a manual-only proposition. Around 80 per cent of all cars sold in Australia are automatics, making them a crucial part of any vehicle range.

Like the UK, Veloster sales in Australia for 2014 have dropped, but only by 14 per cent, which compared against the total sports car market (down 16.6 per cent) isn't reason to panic.

The Veloster is the second best-selling car in the sports car category thus far in 2014, with 3193 sales, accounting for 23.5 per cent market share. Only the Toyota 86 found more buyers, with 3928 – but that figure is down by a whopping 37.5 per cent on 2013's sales.

"The car is doing well here and we love it," noted Thomas, who explained that the popularity of sports cars "tend to drop off as they age".

It's not known when an all-new Veloster will break cover, but based on average vehicle life-cycles it could arrive in 2017. By then the front-drive sports car could morph substantially, perhaps eschewing the unusual asymmetric 3+1 door layout that hasn't endeared itself to European motorists.

By then Hyundai should also have the Genesis Coupe to beef up its local sports car arsenal in future, providing it with a larger and more focussed rear-drive two-door performance car, not to mention a two-pronged attack on the sports car segment.

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