Hyundai Keeps the Heat on Toyota, Honda with New Tucson
March 04, 2010
With prime rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. stumbling into 2010, surging 
Hyundai Motor America Inc. isn't planning to give them - or anybody else - a breather: the company is launching seven completely new products in the next 24 months, starting with the formidable and all-new 2010 Tucson compact crossover.
Like just about everything else Hyundai's doing these days, the Tucson is almost certain to give its competitors fits.
At a time when Honda's CR-V and the Ford Escape are aging - and Toyota's RAV4 falls under the pall of the company's safety-recall cloud - the Tucson hits the market as a strongly designed, refined, efficient (and of course, value-packed) alternative. And Tucson also stacks up plenty strong against the segment's fresher players, too, the Subaru Forester and Nissan Rogue.
Early signs point to a strong start: Tucsons sales leapt 102 percent in February, and so far in 2010 the new Tucson is up 112 percent to 4,957 sales in the first two months.
Although those numbers are a fraction of what RAV4 and CR-V generate, market share for both aging models seems particularly vulnerable. Hyundai planners point out a recent media drive event that the deceptively roomy Tucson has a longer wheelbase and is wider overall than the CR-V, yet a front-wheel-drive 2010 Tucson, at 23 miles per gallon city and 31 mpg highway, beats a comparable CR-V (21 mpg/28 mpg) in fuel economy.
"The Tucson's redesign looks like it will be chipping away at the competitors sales," said Edmunds.com Analyst Ivan Drury. "Hyundai sold just over 60,000 Tucsons back in 2005 -- at a time when they weren't considered a major automaker as they are today. Plus, the increase in size of the newest Tucson will allow it to better compete with RAV4, CR-V, and the like whereas the previous version was a little undersized for the competition."
At the moment, the Tucon's sibling, the Hyundai Santa Fe, is the most cross-shopped vehicle. Of people shopping for a Tucson, 22 percent also consider a Santa Fe.
There's more: Hyundai claims a front-drive, automatic-transmission (a convincing new 6- 
speed unit developed in-house) Tucson GLS - effectively the volume model - is almost $1,500 less than a comparably equipped CR-V and even $350 less than the segment-bargain Nissan Rogue. Go up to the leathered Limited trim and the price advantage is greater still.
Combined with the Tucson's taut and contemporary new look - the design comes from Hyundai's Frankfurt, Germany, design and technical center, as did most of the engineering - Tucson's scorecard of high content and class-leading fuel economy and pricing seems like a wickedly competitive new punch in its value-intensive segment.
According to data from Edmunds.com, the CR-V was the eighth best-selling vehicle in the country last year, moving 191,214 units, and although the new Tucson certainly won't approach those figures, it's equally certain Hyundai will move plenty more than the 15,411 Tucsons sold last year. Maybe multiples of that figure.
Although Hyundai assiduously avoids offering sales projections for new models, officials spoke guardedly of the Tucson accounting for as much as 10 percent of the maker's sales this year. Using the company's 2009 total sales of 435,064 as a guide, that would mean Hyundai could be targeting sales approaching 45,000 units, or three times Tucson's 2009 volume. After the first two months of 2010, the new Tucson already is nearly a third of the way toward matching 2009's sales total of 15,411 units.
The first-generation Tucson, which the new 2010 model replaces, was launched in 2004. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photo by Hyundai Motor America
1 - Hyundai claims class-leading fuel economy and power for the all-new 2010 Tucson, while it is the first production Hyundai crossover to be styled in Europe.
2 - Feature-packed interior IS said to be roomier than a BMW X3.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:00 AM under Companies , Featured , Hyundai, Kia , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Toyota and Honda will have huge problems with Hyundai because their buyers want fuel economy and reliability above all else. Now comes along a car as relibale, more fuel efficient, more spacious and cheaper. Game over. Same with the new Sonata.
For those who stuck with Domestics they will not be swayed as much, hence why Hyundai will disproprtionately take buyers from Toyota (and to a lesser extent Honda).
Lexus should also fear Hyundai moving upmarket with the Genesis and their new luxury car since Lexus pulled the same trick on BMW/MB back in the 1990's. BMW and MB have less to fear isnce they have a hardcore of loyal buyers unlike Lexus.
Posted by: guy1974 | March 04, 2010 at 6:26 AM
I'd be just as interested in what percentage of those shopping those competitors cross-shopped the Tucson.
Posted by: dg0472 | March 04, 2010 at 4:04 PM
There's a difference between "less expensive" and "less expensive comparably equipped". The cheapest Tucson with a sunroof costs $28,000, which is thousands more than an Escape. Yes, it has more equipment, all of it stuff that I'm not interested in paying extra for. The Tucson gets better fuel economy, but that lump of cash buys a lot of fuel, even at $4/gal.
Fortunately, Kia will soon offer the better-looking next-generation Sportage, and if recent introductions are any guide, will offer much fairer and more flexible pricing.
Posted by: bc1960 | March 04, 2010 at 8:13 PM