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Marton Pettendy20 Sept 2019
NEWS

Hyundai launches new entry model – and it’s an SUV

New Hyundai Venue becomes Korean brand’s smallest and cheapest model but may lack a five-star safety rating

The Hyundai Venue has been launched in Australia, where the all-new compact SUV will become the Korean brand’s smallest and equal cheapest model, but may not attract a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating.

We’ve already covered the Venue’s global reveal, its international launch and Australian pricing and specs, and you can read our first local review here.

In a nutshell, the all-new small SUV is available in three model grades, all powered by the same 1.6-litre petrol engine, priced from just $19,990 – the same as Hyundai’s volume-selling i30 hatch and less than all of its direct small SUV rivals. The mid-range Active is expected to be the best-selling variant.

Positioned below the small Kona, mid-size Tucson and large Santa Fe as Hyundai’s fourth SUV, the Venue effectively replaces the Accent as Hyundai’s entry model, meaning the Korean brand will exit the light-car segment it became synonymous with in the late 1980s via the Excel, followed by the Getz and i20.

Hyundai is not represented in the micro-car segment, in which just three players remain – Kia Picanto, Mitsubishi Mirage and Fiat 500.

The Accent is now in runout at $15,990 drive-away until stocks run out later this year, and although Hyundai hasn’t ruled out the future reintroduction of its successor – or the new Czech-built i10 or i20 – it cites the lack of profitability and consumer shift away from light-cars as reasons that won’t happen any time soon.

“If the market changes again we have many small car options,” said Hyundai Australia CEO JW Lee told carsales. “But right now that’s where the market is at.”

While small SUV sales have grown by 58 per cent since 2014, the light-car segment has shrunk 37 per cent in the same period. Last month 45 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia were SUVs, compared to just 30 per cent for cars, and medium SUVs overtook small cars as the single biggest sales segment earlier this year.

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Hyundai Australia says its shift away from light-cars and towards small SUVs was four years in the making and wasn’t taken lightly, with the Venue subject to its biggest research study ever with 14 customer clinics, some of which included the Toyota Yaris – the nation’s third most popular light-car behind the Accent and Mazda2.

And while it points out it now has six small cars (including the i30 hatch, Elantra sedan, Veloster, IONIQ, Venue and Kona), it stops short of forecasting the latter two will give it small SUV leadership – a title currently held by the Mitsubishi ASX , followed by the Mazda CX-3 and Kona.

Despite its lower pricetag, nor does it expect the new Venue nameplate to outsell the Accent or Kona – let alone the i30 or Tucson – but says small SUV dominance “would be nice” and that “anything can happen”.

What’s certain is the Hyundai Venue arrives in Australia just five months after its world debut in the US in April and directly after its release in India, where it’s already a top-seller, making Australia one of the first markets to receive it.

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But because the Venue is not on sale in Europe and has not been crash tested by Euro NCAP, it launches here without a local ANCAP safety rating.

In line with comments made last year by Hyundai Australia’s former COO Scott Grant, who told carsales the brand may settle for a four-star ANCAP rating to ensure its entry-level models maintain competitive pricing, Hyundai says the Venue may not achieve a maximum five-star ANCAP rating – as is the case for all current Hyundai models except the iLoad commercial van.

It says the reason for that is the fitment of Hyundai’s first camera-based (rather than radar-based) autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which lacks adaptive cruise control functionality and the ability to detect cyclists, and issues around the car’s rear child restraint system.

ANCAP would not comment on any potential safety rating it may award the Venue, but confirmed it has purchased a vehicle and will publish its rating following crash testing by the end of this year.

The Hyundai Venue comes standard across the range with AEB including pedestrian detection, as well as lane-keeping assist, driver attention warning, auto high-beam, tyre-pressure monitoring, reversing camera and six airbags.

Its Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA) system is designed to detect vehicles and pedestrians via a windscreen-mounted camera and provide full auto-braking at speeds between 8-60km/h, and partial braking to minimise the severity of impact with other vehicles at speeds of up to 180km/h.

Meantime, Lane Keeping Assist – Line/Road-Edge (LKA-LR) uses the same camera and incorporates Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) functions to keep the car in its lane at speeds between 60-180km/h.

The top-spec Hyundai Venue Elite auto, priced at $25,490 plus ORCs, adds Blind-Spot Collision Warning (BCW, 30km/h-plus) and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning (RCCW).

But in an indication of how tough ANCAP’s scoring regime has become, it will lose marks for its auto-braking system’s lack of cyclist detection, which accounts for six of the 48 points available in the Vulnerable Road User Protection (VRUP) part of the test.

VRUP is second only to Child Occupant Protection (49 points) in terms of importance, followed by Adult Occupant Protection (38) and Safety Assist (13).

Whether the Hyundai Venue can score enough points in those areas to achieve a five-star ANCAP rating remains to be seen.

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