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Bruce Newton30 Jul 2015
NEWS

Hyundai-Kia plans model blitz

All-new cars and SUVs coming as sales downturn hits hard

A wave of new production vehicles is coming from Korea's giant Hyundai-Kia group in the second half of 2015 as it fights to turn around declining sales.

Headlining Hyundai's roll-out will be an all-new Elantra small car, which is expected to break cover in Korea soon before making its motor show debut in Los Angeles in November.

Kia's star is the new generation QL Sportage, which we have most recently reported  just two weeks ago.

But other new models potentially of interest to Australia that the Korean Car Blog says are on the way include the hybrid Hyundai 'AE' Prius rival (pictured), a Genesis diesel and a new generation Accent.

On the Kia side the new Optima mid-sizer has already been shown and is on the way, while the authoritative website is also forecasting a new small hybrid SUV codenamed 'DE' and inspired by the Niro concept will break cover.

Other models said to be coming that we won't see in Australia include an all-new Hyundai Equus large car and the Creta mini-SUV, which is aimed at emerging markets.

Plug-in and hybrid versions of the Optima (or K5 as it is known in Korea) are also off the agenda for Australia.

The Hyundai-Kia group has cut its 2015 sales target by 10 per cent from around 8.2 million to 7.5 million, a huge drop from the 2014 result of around 8.0 million.

A downturn in Chinese sales is the primary cause, but rebounding Japanese brands are also giving Hyundai-Kia greater competition.

The Elantra is expected to arrive in Australia early in 2016. It is one car that deserves the "all-new" tag as it will debut the new architecture that will also underpin the next generation of its i30 hatch sibling, as well as Kia's next-gen Cerato that arrives in the first half of 2016.

The AE is also expected in Australia in 2016. Internationally it will be offered with plug-in capability, but it is unclear whether that tech will be coming to Australia.

Hyundai has recently launched the Tucson in Australia, which replaces the small ix35 SUV, and the importer has also announced exchange rate challenges have killed the i10 and 120.

Meanwhile, having launched the latest Carnival people-mover and Sorento large SUV here in the last few months, Kia will launch the Optima in Australia before the end of the year, following up with the Picanto mini-car in January and then debut the Sportage before the end of Q1.

"Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors earlier drafted two emergency scenarios. One is to stick to the initial sales target and the other is to cut the target by 10 per cent to the mid-7 million unit range," an informed source told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.

"It could have chosen the former one not to change the target, but it would mean around 2 trillion won extra cash to keep the sales promise through diverse promotion, marketing and incentives," he said. "The company has internally opted for the latter one, that is to cut its sales target, and the scaled-back target has been in place for months."

According to the company data, combined sales of the group dipped 2.4 per cent year-on-year to 3.95 million units during the January-June period.

Hyundai Motor saw its overseas sales drop 3.2 per cent in the six-month period from the year before, and the number for Kia Motors also shrank 3.1 per cent.  First half sales in China, the globe's largest market, fell 7.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

In Australia, Hyundai sales are up one per cent on 2014 while Kia is nearly nine per cent up. Both are on-track for record results.

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