Hyundai: Ready, Set, Blow Up
The year: 1986. Hyundai rules the cheap-is-good scene with the penalty-box Excel. Madonna rules your hormones. Pretty soon, both scenarios collapse in an ugly nightmare of warranty costs and girl-on-girl-on-Vanilla-Ice action.
Now with a whole new century, Hyundai is reinventing itself-and looking to the next few years to totally smack down the rest of Asia and become the fifth-largest car company in the world. That's right, the fifth largest, like Iraq's former army and Brazil's landmass minus outlying islands. How are they going to rock that out?
A steady stream of new wheels that could be as tasty as the Tiburon and at least as functional as an Ikea-made personal love toy.
The next step in Korean world domination-step aside, Kim Jong Il-is the Tucson, a saucy little crossover ute coming your way at the Detroit auto show sketched out here, the real deal will use four-cylinder engines and front-drive in its base, $15,000 or so version. Further up the ladder, the Tucsons with all-wheel drive will share their 3.5-liter V-6 with the existing Santa Fe.
After that, Hyundai gets seriously busy. In 2005, they open a factory in Alabama, a favored home for foreign carmakers and previously related couples. The next-generation Sonata four-door will be the first car to shoot out of that delivery room. A new XG (Korea's own Buick LeSabre) and a big minivan are coming in 2006, along with a new Accent and Elantra. Finally, in 2007, Hyundai will take a relative breather by introducing a new Tiburon and an Explorer-sized SUV.
More New Japanese Cars-More Recalls
In a trend sure to be scaring the bejesus (beBuddha?) out of Japanese carmakers, big recalls are becoming more common as they spread their product lines and production sites. For example, Nissan said in November that it would recall 2.55 million vehicles because of an engine defect. In the affected cars - among them the 350Z - the engines have a defective sensor that could lead to a short circuit that can stop the engine. At Mitsubishi, defective front-wheel suspension joints in about 140,000 Mitsubishi Galants, and 270,000 other Mitsubishis sold in Japan have been recalled. And Honda has recalled 235,000 CR-V, Integra, and two non-U.S. models for a loose power steering unit. Honda also has recently recalled almost 700,000 vehicles in the U.S. for bum parking-gear units.
Toyota Takes Over Number Two
By the time you read this, Toyota might be the second-biggest carmaker in the world. Up until now, Japan's biggest carmaker has been number three, but with a bullet. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company, the current number two with pockmarks all over its product lineup in the States and in Europe, has been sinking. Now Reuters tells us that for the first six months of 2003, Toyota outsold Ford if you include all its sales around the world, including trucks from Hino and cars from Daihatsu and all of Ford's luxury brands. Detroiters crow that new products will be coming in droves in 2004 and 2005, but for now their turf is up for grabs.
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