Hyundai i10 - small car, small price, big sales

Hyundai will not only promote the new i10 city-car as a lot of car for the money, from under £6,500 with air conditioning as standard when it goes on sale in the UK in April.

But Hyundai will also be building on the marque’s five-year warranty with a strong finance package, said UK managing director Tom Whitehorn at the media launch.

As the credit crunch is expected to hit the UK car market this spring and summer, with one bank predicting a million less people now planning to buy a new car, the finishing touches are now being put to the financial package to roll out with the Hyundai i10.

Hyundai has learned that forecasters have given the new i10 a 3years/60,000 mile residual value of 39 per cent. That - coupled with its low emissions, low road tax and Benefit in Kind company car tax rating - would have strong appeal to corporate buyers including daily rental fleets, Mr Whitehorn said.

“We want to get it onto the books for £110 a month, which we believe is a very good figure considering the equipment levels,” he said.

“This is an important car for us. It lifts the brand to a new level of competitiveness, and will also create the right atmosphere for the introduction of other new models this year.”

The larger Hyundai i30 Estate, the H1 van and an eight-seat MPV are all heading for showrooms this year.

Hyundai UK expects to sell about 19,000 i10 models in a full year and to take its overall car sales from last year’s 29,765 units to 32,000 this year, with the additional new models lifting business further in 2009.

Hand in hand with this growth is a desire to gradually increase the number of UK dealers from 155 outlets today, to the optimum of 185 and to fill some open points around the country, principally in large metropolitan areas.

The Hyundai i10 is essentially a replacement for the Amica, which was discontinued some years ago, but it is an appreciably larger car in this sector where rivals are also growing in size.

The launch of the i10 marks the point at which Hyundai becomes an all-air conditioned range. This will bring drivers a real benefit, not just in hot weather, but also in the winter when the dehumidifying effect results in much faster demisting.

Also included in the class-leading equipment list is four airbags, a six-speaker stereo with MP3-compatible CD player and aux-in socket, 14-inch wheels, electric windows and central locking.

All i10s are powered by a 1.1-litre, 65bhp petrol engine which is capable of 56.5mpg on the combined cycle, and produces 119g/km of CO2 for the Classic and Comfort models.

This means it qualifies for a road fund licence charge of just £35 per year and the new 10 per cent benefit-in-kind company car tax level.

Top ten small cars

Increasingly the supermini is the choice of car-buyers in an age where the economical, practical, easy to park and ´green´ small car is king.

Name

Comments

Validation	Please enter the text to the left (case sensitive)
Reload