Hyundai are launching this month in Europe their new Genesis to compete with Porsche, followed next spring by a genuine “Coupé” with 2 doors on its right passenger side and a single on the driver’s side. By May-June, they’ll launch a wagon (estate) version of their i40 car to compete with Toyota, Ford and Peugeot.
Kia will launch in April 2011 an entry model of their Picanto, and later in September, a small Rio, to vie with the Clio from Renault. But the Hyundai-Kia Group are also entering the hybrid market with their hybrid version of the Hyundai Sonata, soon to be followed on the American market by a rechargeable hybrid in 2013 and an EV in 2014.
Hyundai-Kia target 5.7 million cars sold in 2010, a million more than last year, and will reach 6.5 million units in 2012—so states Euisun Chung, VP Hyundai-Kia and grandson of the company’s founder. His impressive ambition is consistent with the expending footprint of the Korean car maker: a new manufacturing plant in St Petersburg will start production in 2011 for Russia with a capacity of 150,000 cars. A similar project is under way for Brazil, even though China, America, and Europe are considered the key markets. Production capacity in China will reach 1.4 million units next year when the new plant opens there, adding 400,000 units to the maker’s capacity in that country. During the 11 first months of 2010, Hyundai-Kia sold 950,000 cars in China, 3 times as many as PSA. In America, where they operate two production plants, the Koreans have overtaken Nissan with 820,000 vehicles sold—a 20% rise. In Europe, they have surpassed Toyota with sales of over 508,000 units in 10 months and production facilities in Slovakia and Czech Republic. Hyundai-Kia base their growth on new car models designed specifically to satisfy local tastes, although they share 70 to 75 percent of their components
