VW Boss Caught on Film Impressed by the Hyundai i30’s Quality, Displeased with his Staff

Up until now, we were used to seeing Japanese and later on, Korean and Chinese executives measuring and taking pictures of every detail of their rivals’ cars at major auto shows.

But now the tables have turned, and in a big way: at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show we saw none other than VW CEO, Martin Winterkorn himself, examine Hyundai’s newest C-segment hatchback, the i30.

And boy was he impressed with the i30’s quality…But at the same time, he seemed to be frustrated by the work his own staff is doing in VW Group models. “I hear nothing!” Winterkorn said about the absence of any rattles while adjusting the steering wheel. “How did they do it?," he continued.

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Hyundai Photo Gallery Live from the Frankfurt Motor Show

The 64th International Auto Show in Frankfurt is well underway and in this post, we bring you some live photos from Hyundai's stand.

The South Korean automaker's most crucial debut is the second generation of the i30 hatchback that targets the popular European C-segment with rivals such as the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, VW Golf, and Citroen C4.

The compact-size model goes on sale next spring with a choice of 1.4-liter and 1.6-liter engines in both gasoline and diesel flavors. You can read more about it in our previous article here.

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IAA 2011: New Details on the 2012 Hyundai i30

Hyundai has released some new chatter regarding the second generation of its i30 compact hatchback that will make its grand debut at next week's 64th International Auto Show in Frankfurt

The South Korean car manufacturer's Ford Focus and VW Golf challenger will go on sale in Europe as a five-door hatchback in the Spring of 2012.

Buyers will have a choice of two direct-injection gasoline engines with a displacement of 1.4-liters and 1.6-liters, and two CRDi turbo diesels, again with a displacement of 1.4-liters and 1.6-liters.

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Hyundai Lifts the Covers Off its Focus-Rivaling i30 Hatch

The upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show will host the world premiere of Hyundai's new generation i30 C-segment hatchback that will go against the likes of the Volkswagen Golf and Renault Megane in Europe.

The compact-sized i30 brings a fresh design with a more unique feel than the outgoing model of the same name, which in the States, is offered only in station wagon form as the Elantra Touring.

The exterior styling follows the Fluidic Sculpture design language of the recently launched i40 series (available in both sedan and station wagon formats) with a large hexagonal front grille, wraparound headlamps, a bulging belt line and pronounced front wheel arches.

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Hyundai Reaches 5 Million Sales in Europe

South Korean carmaker Hyundai announced it has sold five million vehicles in Europe since the first Hyundai Pony was imported in 1977. The five millionth vehicle was an i30, which was launched in 2007 and has sold a little over 320,000 units on the continent. From the five million sales, the last million was achieved in just three years, a proof of Hyundai's accelerated growth in Europe. Read more »

Hyundai’s Model Naming Conventions: From 0 to Fubar in Just 4 Years

Hyundai is one of the world’s biggest automakers, and the most visible of South Korea’s business and industrial acumen. So you would think a company that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Toyota and pre-bailout GM would be pretty consistent with its model naming conventions, right?

Well, not exactly. When Hyundai first launched the i30 hatchback in Europe, Australia and other markets, it seemed that familiar nameplates such as Elantra and Sonata would soon be dead and buried. Not so. In fact, the i30 CW (basically, the station wagon version of the i30), is still sold in the U.S. as the Elantra Touring.

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2012 Hyundai i30: VW Golf Rival Spied Inside and Out

There's been a lot of confusion lately about the spy pictures of the next Hyundai i30. To elaborate, many readers on various websites and forums supported that the scoops may be showing a Kia. Thanks to some additional work from our spy photographers, we can now put the brand speculations to rest. What you see here is indeed a Hyundai, with this being proved by the brand's logo on the alloy wheels as well as the typical Hyundai styling of the interior.

Okay, so we've established it's a Hyundai, but could it be the new five-door Accent? Well, we doubt it because we saw the new Accent hatch at last month's Montreal Auto Show in Canada and it looks quite different inside and out. So that leaves us with the i30 (and yes, our spy photographer assured us it was larger than the...i20).

With that out of the way, let's see what we can find out from these spy photos. Although the prototype is carefully bagged up, it's pretty clear that the new i30 will be a sleeker proposal to look at with an edgier exterior design than the current model.

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Hyundai's European Plant Hits New Production Milestone with 300,000th Vehicle

The 300,000th Hyundai rolled off the firm's manufacturing facility in Nošovice, Czech Republic, marking a new production milestone for the company in Europe. The vehicle was a white i30 CW, which is the station wagon version of the European market i30 compact hatch.

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Chop Shopped: Hyundai i30 Sedan and Kia Forte Station Wagon

Designer Eduardo Oliveira has sent us some interesting photoshops of some cars from the Hyundai-Kia lineups. First is a more traditional, wagon version of the Forte (or Cerato) as opposed to the production Forte 5-door hatch. Second is the a look at what the a sedan version of the i30 (Elantra Touring in the States) could look like. Any thoughts?

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Special Edition Hyundai i30 in Red, Blue or White

The first ever special edition version of the i30 promises to bring a little colour to Hyundai’s UK dealerships as it will be available in three exclusive colours - Crystal White, Ember Red and Indigo Blue – that have never been seen before on the subcompact hatch. Colours aside, the special edition i30 also gets a factory-fitted electric sunroof, 16-inch alloy wheels and new door mirrors first seen on the i30 Estate model.

All of the i30 SE (Special Edition) models are powered by Hyundai’s 1.4-litre, 107 HP petrol engine which returns 46.3 mpg UK (38.6 mpg US). Hyundai says that just 700 of the i30 SEs will be available, priced at £11,845. The first cars are expected to reach showrooms on 25 August.

Hyundai i30 i-Blue with Less Tailpipe Emissions

Every car manufacture that respects itself nowadays needs to have a unique logo for its cleanest and most environmentally friendly vehicles. Hyundai on its behalf is introducing the i-Blue insignia that will appear on every car in its range that manages to offer emissions below the 120g/km barrier. The first production model to bear the i-Blue logo will be an i30 hatchback powered by the company’s 1.6-litre CRDi turbo diesel engine and it will make its debut at the British Motor Show in London (July 22 to Aug 3). -Continued

So what’s so special about the i30 i-Blue? Well, Hyundai’s engineers managed to achieve a 6g/km drop in CO2 emissions over the standard i30 1.6-litre CRDi model thanks to a minor change to the gear ratios. There are no other changes whatsoever – we’re not kidding. Don’t you just love marketing?

Scooped : 2007 Hyundai FD - Arnejs production version

As reported earlier, Hyundai announced that'll introduce a concept version of its Kia Cee'd based, 2007 FD C-Segment hatchback called Arnejs -read more here: Hyundai Arnejs, at next weeks Paris Show.

But because a few months is a long time, it wouldn't hurt anyone if we could get a sneek-preview of Hyundai's upcoming FD production version, would it ? Thanks (again) to a cell phone camera and the net, we seem to get that chance , and not only for the 5door hatch but also for the Station Wagon version.

Unfortunately though, by the looks of it, Hyundai's VW Golf & Ford Focus contender seems to have strayed away from the dynamic look of the Arnejs prototype -check out the concept's pictures bellow. Of course we see a lot of Arnejs design elements such as the rear light clusters, but that's about it. If these pics really do unveil the 2007 FD production version then, I have to say that Hyundai missed it's chance to make a difference in an, already satiated, with uninspired propositions, category.

Technorati: Hyundai+FD, Hyundai+Arnejs, 2007, autos, auto+news, car+news, automobile, Mondial+de+l'Automobile, 2006, cars, automotive, vehicles, Paris+International

Hyundai Arnejs Concept : Previews Hyundai's VW Golf contendor, the 2007 FD

Following a previous release of a sketch, Hyundai came out today with live pics of its C-Segment concept, the oddly named Arnejs. Hyundai's VW Golf sized concept actually gives us a preview of next years FD production model (2007 Spring in Europe). To be honesty though, I highly doubt that it'll look so great when it rolls of Hyundai's production line as Arnejs's counterpart, the Kia cee'd production version very well proved to us a few weeks ago.

Press Release: As the designer preview "Arnejs" suggests, Hyundai's up-coming "FD" C-segment vehicle will feature up-to-date technology and a very appealing design to compete with the volume C class models of major European car manufacturers. Led by Chief Designer Thomas Burkle, the Hyundai Motor European design team in Russelsheim, Germany, based the Arnejs on the development plans for the production vehicle.

Its form language is a continuity of design elements first introduced with the Genus concept, which were further developed in order to create a strong brand identity. With the FD Hyundai expects to take another quantum leap, boosting sales and market share in the next years. Hyundai plans to launch the FD in late spring of 2007.

Technorati: Hyundai+Arnejs, Kia+Cee’d, Concept, Hyundai+FD, 2007, prototype, press+release, , news, automobile, cars, automotive, vehicles, 2006, Paris+International+Motor+Show