For those of us who are pistonheads and think that the 21st century is going to be a clone of the 20th, this ought to be a wake-up call (along with the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, as well as the current inability of Toyota to make money in North America). Hyundai Group (which includes 50 percent owned Kia) is now the fourth largest automaker in the land. As in, all of the land/world. It just passed Ford Motor Company this month. With the upcoming major offensive by Hyundai and the ongoing downward spiral of General Messup, the only question remains: how long before Hyundai becomes number three in the world?
Meanwhile, Toyota and Volkswagen vie for the number one spot, with GM spirallying down down down in the inevitable slide started after their zenith in the early 1960s (since nothing lasts forever).
This car is Hyundai’s biggest seller in North America, and it is the bread and butter of the line, competing with the heavy hitters of the industry, including the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Chevrolet Malibu, among many others.
One thing that Hyundai are talking about is the upcoming Sonata Hybrid using new lithium polymer batteries. The technology is not cribbed from either Honda nor Toyota, but is to use Hyundai’s self-engineered six speed automatic transmission with a powerful motor-generator between the transaxle and the direct-injection four cylinder engine (which is soon to be about three generations ahead of the co-designed engines used by Chrysler and Mitsubishi and built in Dundee, Michigan, for Chrysler’s use).
The direct injection is going to be found in the conventional four cylinder Sonata, too—and for those Baruthian drivers out there who don’t mind powerful wrong-wheel-drive (FWD) cars, apparently a larger more powerful V6 will be optional, too, also fitted with the new six speed automatic.
As for the look of the new Sonata, I know that car styling is cyclical. Big glasshouses are out, slit windows and high beltlines are in; boxiness and lithe size are out, swooping long lines are in. It’s like the early 1970s redux (the 1971-1974 Dodge Charger two door hardtops being the “best”—or worst, depending upon your viewpoint—example of this styling in that prior era). The prior time this kind of styling was “in” was the late 1940s with the 1948-1954 Hudson Commodore, Wasp and Hornet being the “best/worst” example (but at least these cars had tons of interior room).
So, the new Sonata apes the current styling themes already seen in the Mercedes CLS and Volkswagen CC, the so-called “four door coupe’ styling” which simply indicates reduced visibility and less room for human beings.
What’s the opinion of the best & brightest of The Truth About Cars? Will the “YF” Sonata be a hit, or a flop? Will Hyundai knock on Toyota and Volkswagen’s door for #3 spot worldwide within 5 years or 10, or never?
And will Hyundai finally lose the “Rodney Dangerfield” syndrome of not ever seeming to get any respect from car guys and gals?
Don’t you agree that it is richly ironic that GM, which practically invented planned obsolencence, is now itself obsolete?
So long as they don’t let success go to their heads and forget what got them where they are as Toyota has done, and what Ford did before most of us were born.
As for the picture, what is that ungainly ungodly mess?
Hyundai does NOT own 50% of Kia — it now owns only 38.67%, which means that Kia is not actually a Hyundai subsidiary, any more than Nissan is a Renault subsidiary.
http://www.kmcir.com/eng/kire1000/kire1500.aspx
Spyshots of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Nice Lecter, I mean lecture.
Those numbers come from Hyundai and need to be taken with a big grain of salt (kind of like GM claiming 230mpg). Hyundai Industrial Group owns 33% of Kia, Hyundai Motors doesn’t own any of Kia and Kia doesn’t own any of Hyundai Motors. If you are going to combine numbers that way Ford should include Mazda, which would make it bigger and Nissan and Renault should be combined which would make them bigger still.
Also your numbers for GM, Toyo and VW don’t jive.
numbers through H109 (from Hyundai’s press release)
Toyota: 3.56m
GM: 3.55m
VW: 3.10m
It’s still very impressive, but it’s spinning numbers to make it more than it is.
Do these numbers reflect one month or year to date?
Hyundai might surge to number 3 IF they ever develop front bushings that are silent – the suspensions moan, groan and bang when brand new. That turned me off during the test drive.
Cash for clunkers appears to be working for hyundai
Seems obvious that Hyundai still suffers from being the Rodney Dangerfield of the auto industry, if some of these comments are anything to go by!
Where are the “kudos, Hyundai!”
Considering that Hyundai only started manufacturing licensed Ford Taunus/Cortina cars in 1967, they’ve come a long way in 42 years…
I’m starting to see Hyundai Genesis coupes on the road now, and my neck hurts from swivelling my head to follow them as they pass. I haven’t wrung every nickel out of the investment in my current car yet,though, so I must wait a few more years before I start shopping for a replacement sporty car. It remains near the top of my ‘like’ list, alongside the Infiniti G37 coupe. The fact that I can buy two fully equipped Hyundais for the same amount as one loaded G37 (the brand is also the price – clever marketing!) would allow me to overlook the occasional odd noise.
That car right there just might break into the midwest market. Looks like it will do just about what a John Deere will. Cut hay and go to church.
Cash for clunkers appears to be working for hyundai
And Toyota, and Honda, and Kia, etc.
We recently rented a Sonata for a driving vacation. After almost 3,000 miles in it we were very impressed. If we were in the market for a 4 door sedan it would be at the top of the list. They have indeed come a long way.
I have worked on several Hyundais over the past year. Elantras mostly. The cars are decent but the build quality is hit-and-miss. Transmission problems. Leaks. Earlier Hyundais would rot at the point where the front subframe bolts to the body. Overall, not as durable as comparable Hondas and Toyotas.
The cars are nice to own if you are the first owner and car take advantage of that sweet 10 year/100k mile warranty. Which does not transfer to the second owner. Ask me about the 04 Elantra that I’m working on now, with 69k miles and a bad transmission. Even Chrysler get more miles out of their transmissions now…
But not Ford right P71?
I totally agree with highrpm.
Here in the Canadian mid-west, Hyundai’s around the 100,000 mark (sometimes sooner) just deteriorate. It’s going to be another 5-8 years to see if the newer models are any better.
Hyundai’s are still catching up, period.
Here in Southern Ontario the older Huyundai’s are just rust buckets. I don’t think Honda/Toyota have much to fear from these cheap imitations.
MY EYES!!! Who would pick a picture like that?
Hyundai doesn’t care about getting respect from Car Guys and Gals, they want the average Joe and Jane.
For what it’s worth I recommend Hyundai to people looking for unassuming capable vehicles. The only two Hyundais that I could see myself in are the Genesis coupe and sedan.
The problem is people are happy with their Camrys and Accords, so why buy a Hyundai. Sure, you might test drive it, but if your Camcord never gave you any problems why roll the dice with a new brand.
As a 25-year fan of Nissan and Honda products, I am impressed with Hyundai after “converting” a couple of years ago. Time will tell if durability has improved over past models, but the reliability, fit, finish and general robustness of my ’08 Santa Fe is good. Damn good. It looks and feels like it cost $10,000 more.
The new “YF” Sonata looks like a Camry-killer, and the Elantra, Tucson and Entourage are each due for replacement soon. Hyundai will undoubtedly become #3 before long, and has the potential to surpass VW and Toyota some day.
Hyundai = Toyota for the 21st. century.
I’ll go with what Twotone said. Come 2030 they may very well be #2 or #1 in the world.
You have to respect the South Koreans. They had their first democratic election in like, what, 1989? And were as poor as sub-saharan Africa as recently as 1955?
“Here in Southern Ontario the older Huyundai’s are just rust buckets.”
What are the odds people said the same thing about Toyotas in the ’70s?
Hyundai Industrial Group owns 33% of Kia, Hyundai Motors doesn’t own any of Kia and Kia doesn’t own any of Hyundai Motors.
And Ford doesn’t own much of Mazda, yet all their platforms are joined at the hip. Hyundai = Kia = Hyundai. Same thing.
“And Ford doesn’t own much of Mazda, yet all their platforms are joined at the hip. Hyundai = Kia = Hyundai. Same thing.”
Ya, so Mazda should be added to Ford’s sales numbers which would replace Hyundai on this world sales list.
“Here in Southern Ontario the older Hyundai’s are just rust buckets.
“What are the odds people said the same thing about Toyotas in the ’70s?”
Wrong again bud. These are more than rusting cars in the rust belt. Transmission failure, leaking oil and fluid, crappy timing belts, poor exhaust systems, poor suspension design and parts..etc
They did! But NOW we have many quality cars (Toyota, Honda, lots of domestics) that have quality. Why try out this Korean?
“Hyundai = Toyota for the 21st. century”
“I’ll go with what Twotone said. Come 2030 they may very well be #2 or #1 in the world.”
I understand everyone likes the underdog,but this is a bit ridiculous. This is a sales chart from the Hyundai Group, not a nonpartisan source.
My sister bought one of those boxy Hyundais back in the 80s. Went to the junkyard at 75k miles w/bad trans and rust. I saw something about the Sante Fe having reliability problems the other day. Oops, what’s that going up on a flat bed on the way out of work tonight? Oh yeah, it’s a SF. Having said that, they have come a long way.
Will the “YF” Sonata be a hit, or a flop?
It will probably be a moderate hit based mostly on price. Competitive market segment with many ugly competitors. The current Hyundai Sonata has the advantage of good value and inoffensive styling. The Mazda6 isn’t taking over the segment so I would consider the “YF” Sonata styling to be a big gamble.
Will Hyundai knock on Toyota and Volkswagen’s door for #3 spot worldwide within 5 years or 10, or never?
I could see Hyundai rapidly overtaking Volkswagen on the basis of full line NA sales. Hyundai, unlike Volkswagen, would be willing to sell Americans full size pickup trucks and related BOF SUVs. Combine Hyundai cars with GM or Chrysler trucks and you could quickly have a strong competitor for Toyota and Ford in the top volume end of the auto market.
A couple of things have to happen before Hyundai becomes a bigger player:
1) Their cars are (apparently) reliable, attractive, practical and content-rich, but they’re deadly dull to drive – even the Genesis sedan is a Lexus clone, not a BMW-beater. They need to inject some passion into these cars, and this passion needs to be more than sheetmetal-deep.
2) With car prices going up and disposable income going down, financing options become key, and because Hyundais have subpar resale values, leasing isn’t an option for most, if not all, of their lineup. When you consider the large percentages of Accords, Camrys and Altimas that are leased, this means Hyundai isn’t losing these customers on the test drive – they’re losing them in the financing office.
Another factor is dealerships – every Hyundai dealer I have shopped has been a slap-dash affair with old-school salesmen, versus most Toyota and Honda dealers, which tend to have highly professional and impressive operations.
Think of this: instead of driving like a Japanese car, what if the new Sonata featured Euro-style driving dynamics (i.e., VW Passat), high style, and a price lower than Accord and Camry?
In 2003, According to Consumer Reports, Hyundai’s reliability rankings tied Hondas.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-03-11-cr-picks_x.htm
Hyundai’s reliability already same level with Honda 6 years ago.
People keep knocking VW when it comes to the NA market. VW had a choice in the late 80’s, go after eastern europe and China with 100 and 500 million or so potential new customers respectively or compete in the saturated NA market making cars that would only sell in the NA market. Just based on financial and market performance (only profitable major automaker in 2008, by far the largest in Europe (21% of a 17m market in comparison to the US 10m) and the second largest in China (largest for passenger cars, excluding GM minority owned trucks venture). The world doesn’t revolve around the US anymore. Look at all of the huge US multinationals (IBM, GE, etc.) and how much of thier revenue comes from outside the US.
In 2003, According to Consumer Reports, Hyundai’s reliability rankings tied Hondas.
I don’t really care what CR says about reliability. What I want to know is there any Sonota running around with 200-300k miles on it with only std maintenance? Honda and Toyota have thousands of vechiles out there just like that.
My 10 year old Accord still drives like day one and is fast approaching 200k miles. I see more 10 year old Taurus’ than Sonata on the road. Hyundai may be getting better but most people still see them as a “cheap” alternative to Japanese makes.
New car prices, like most other things, will not inflate, and may deflate, actually, despite all the bare faith people have in the premise that the “government is printing money.”
Most of that money has gone to recapitalize bank balance sheets (and continues to do so given their continuing loan losses and asset depreciation) and the fundamentals in the underlying economy continue to worsen. In other words, very little of the stimulus money is making into consumers’ hands.
Cash for Clunkers was an exception to this trend, but will only serve to steal future sales, blip ‘up’ sales figures for 7 or 8 weeks, and major manufacturers MUST ramp up production again (given limited resource utilization as it is), so in about 2-3 months, inventory will return while sales will weaken even more than in the early part of 2009.
The ‘inflation-istas’ have it all wrong.
ohsnapback :
August 25th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Most of that money has gone to recapitalize bank balance sheets (and continues to do so given their continuing loan losses and asset depreciation) and the fundamentals in the underlying economy continue to worsen. In other words, very little of the stimulus money is making into consumers’ hands.
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You are correct, for now.
But the banking sector and real estate will at some point recover and new growth will happen. At that time, maybe 5 years down the road, the huge amounts of paper money poured into the economy will multiply and we will see hyper-inflation.
“Time delay” is the key word with the bursting of the old bubble, the bailout, and the future bubble.
In 2003, According to Consumer Reports, Hyundai’s reliability rankings tied Hondas.
Hyundai’s reliability already same level with Honda 6 years ago.
No buddy, your wrong. This particular example was a 90 days of ownership survey in 2002 that showed Hyundai closely matched Honda and Toyota. As far as I know they have not reached this high since, but for a fact Hyundai has not reached this high in LONG TERM reliability.
As was stated before, 2003, 2004 Hyundai’s show serious deterioration of major mechanical and structural components around 100,000kms.