Hyundai Spending Big To Launch 2011 Sonata; Promises Unique "Experiment" With Equus
By Bill Visnic February 19, 2010Even in a wobbly U.S. auto market, Hyundai Motor America is pretty confident about the prospects for its all-new 2011 Sonata sedan. But not so confident the company doesn't think its best-selling model couldn't use some support, so it's rolling out its biggest budget ever to launch the new version of its best-selling model.
That would be about $160 million, said CEO John Krafcik during a media event today for the 2011 Sonata, which he said is just now reaching dealers.
"In Hyundai terms, this is really big money," Krafcik said. He compares the figure to the $80 million Hyundai recently spent to launch the Genesis premium sedan and $120 million to roll out the previous-generation Sonata in 2006.
Another big move for Hyundai comes with the 2011 Equus, a full-blown luxury sedan to challenge establishment stalwarts such as the BWM 7 Series, Lexus LS and Mercedes S-Class. Launching later this year, Krafcik said the Equus is going to be the torch-bearer for a new level of customer-interaction strategies for Hyundai.
The not-inexpensive Equus will be "a customer-satisfaction halo for the [Hyundai] brand," Krafcik said. The customer-interaction aspects surrounding the launch of the Equus in the U.S. market will be "a pretty interesting experiment," Krafcik promised, adding, "stay tuned -- it's going to be pretty cool." -- Bill Visnic, senior editor
1. The 2011 Sonata is classified by the EPA as a large car, but Hyundai says it is one of the lightest models in the segment (courtesy of Hyundai Motor America).
2. Hyundai's 2011 Equus, launching later this year, will be an incubator for new customer-relationship initiatives.
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