Hyundai Aim To Catch Up With Toyota In Hybrids Within 3 Years

teevee247 · 2005年09月19日

Hyundai Aim To Catch Up With Toyota In Hybrids Within 3 Years

Despite the recent announcement of the global auto giants to jointly develop hybrid drive systems, Hyundai Motor Co. said yesterday that it will continue on its own, aiming to reach an annual production of 300,000 hybrid cars by 2010.
"We have received partnership proposals from foreign carmakers in the past, but as of now, we have no plans to work together," Hyundai's research & development executive Kim Sang-kwon said yesterday.

Planning to sell 350 Verna hybrids to the government for test operation within this year, the nation's No.1 automaker set the deadline for mass production by end of next year.

Hyundai Motor unveiled the new Verna compact yesterday. Hyundai Motor plans to place hybrid engines on this car to sell to the government later this year. [Hyundai Motor]
Hyundai aims to catch up with global hybrid leaders such as Toyota Motor Corp. in two to three years. Hyundai is already ahead of the Japanese carmaker in terms of fuel-cell technology, according to Kim Sang-kwon. As Toyota's Prius and Honda Motor Co.'s Accord are currently dominating the growing hybrid market, BMW Group, General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG signed a memorandum of understanding last week to pool their expertise for the accelerated and efficient development of hybrid drive systems.

Audi AG, Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG also agreed on Monday to jointly develop a new fuel-efficient hybrid engine for their cars.

"Hybrids were considered merely as a transitional form of automobiles in the past, however, the market is growing rapidly with the help of rising fuel prices," said Kim.

"So we plan to shift our R&D focus from fuel-cells to hybrids."

Separately, Hyundai Motor unveiled the new Verna compact yesterday, on which hybrid engines will soon be placed.

Hyundai expects domestic sales of the diesel-powered Verna cars to match that of gasoline models. The company aims to sell up to 30,000 Verna units at home per year, about a tenth of its target volume worldwide.

The new cars are scheduled to be shipped abroad beginning next month to hit U.S. showrooms in February.

"We hope to win back the No. 1 spot in the U.S. entry compact car market by selling up to 70,000 units a year," said Hyundai's executive of overseas sales Park Heung-kook.

The older Verna was the bestselling entry compact in the world's biggest auto market until it gave way to GM Daewoo's Aveo, sold under Chevrolet badge, last year. Toyota's Scion has also emerged as a competitor.

ORIGINAL STORY: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/09/15/200509150020.asp

01rollas · 2005年09月19日

sounds good but as soon as i saw BMW that just means "aww ****". Hyundai may be better at thier fuel cell technology and Toyota and Honda may have had slight electronic problems but with thier power they are able to get fix it and make it seem like nothing happened. Whereas Hyundai is going on its own and that just sounds like they are going to get in to the **** that Mitsubishi is in right now, debt.Later they will be asking for help if thier cars don't sell because of the lack of funds.

teevee247 · 2005年09月19日

Yah, I think Hyundai should just concentrate on improving thir line (like they have been doing), when they can honestly say that their entire line-up (not just 2 or 3 cars) is up to date and competitive, then start developing other mans of propulsion, or, just licence the technology from Toyota like Nissan is doing with their Altima hybrid... but time will tell, the could surprise us (I know they surprised me with the Tiburon in 2003 and the new Sonata this year).

01rollas · 2005年09月19日

have you noticed the rear of the sonata looks like an accord and the front looks like a subaru legacy? Competitor they do have to worry about is BMW thier advancements in technology are very high.

teevee247 · 2005年09月19日

Yah, I did notice that about the Sonata, but I find they did a better job with it than Honda did with the Accord, oh well...

The fact that BMW, GM and DaimlerChrysler will be collaborating on hybrid technology could mean they could surpass the years of experience that Toyota has shortly (alot more engineering ressources, and they all have engineers that can do great things when they are allowed and motivated to (mostly GM that is pointed towards right now)). The future will be interesting...

Log in or Sign up

Hyundai Aim To Catch Up With Toyota In Hybrids Within 3 Years

teevee247 Well-Known Member

01rollas New Member

teevee247 Well-Known Member

01rollas New Member

teevee247 Well-Known Member

TRDの愛を広める

Log in or Sign up

Hyundai Aim To Catch Up With Toyota In Hybrids Within 3 Years

teevee247 Well-Known Member

01rollas New Member

teevee247 Well-Known Member

01rollas New Member

teevee247 Well-Known Member

TRDの愛を広める

Useful Searches