Hyundai expects the new-generation i30 to build on the remarkable success of the original model, the company’s first car to be launched with the ‘i’ prefix, introducing a new nomenclature and heralding a new era for Hyundai in Europe. Heading directly for the segment dominated by the VW Polo, this i30 could have VW worried in the ASEAN market.
The original i30 was also the first model to be designed and engineered in Europe, the first to be produced at the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic, and the first Hyundai car to receive five stars from Euro NCAP. After its July 2007 launch, the i30 went on to increase its sales in Europe every year, attracting 115,000 buyers in 2010 – the highest-ever annual sales figure for an individual Hyundai model in Europe – and achieving total sales of more than 350,000 units up to mid-2011. However in Malaysia its high selling price against the segment popular models like the Honda Jazz and VW Polo, left it with little sales success.
Designed and engineered at the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany, the new-generation i30 represents a further evolution of the unique Hyundai form language, ‘fluidic sculpture’, displaying the company’s distinctive design DNA which Malaysians already love seeing the success of the all new Tucson and Sonata. Looking at the interior, it shows a very European look and feel which will go well with buyers.
