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.

And there's another thing. When the “i” and “ix” naming convention was introduced by Hyundai, it seemed to me that the “i” names would be for cars and the “ix” for the brand’s SUVs. This too was not to be. In Australia, the Hyundai Sonata is sold as the i45 and the upcoming ix20 is a B-segment MPV, not a mini SUV.

So what gives, Hyundai? Why can’t you keep the names internally consisted? Audi never had this problem. A’s for cars and Q’s for SUVs. Oh, I forgot about the TT and R8. Damn it, guys! It can’t be that difficult to stay consistent. It irks me, as I’m a pedant and a stickler for uniformity.

So that’s my two cents. We now return you to your regular scheduled blog.

By Tristan Hankins

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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

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

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.

As mentioned previously, our scoopers also managed to snap the first photos of the i30's interior and as you can see, the styling is very close to the Veloster coupe. The dashboard has swoopy lines darting to and fro, a pronounced center console and a pair of deeply set instrument gauges. However, instead of the Veloster's three-spoke steering wheel, the five-door hatchback gets a more conventional four-spoke version.

What lies under the hood remains a mystery for now, but buyers should expect a choice of four-cylinder diesel and gasoline engines including the new 1.6-liter petrol with direct-injection and around 140-ponies.

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