Hyundai moves Santa Fe SUV upmarket to make room for Tucson
11-09-2004, 09:00 AM
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Hyundai moves Santa Fe SUV upmarket to make room for Tucson
Hyundai Motor America will move its popular Santa Fe SUV about $2,000 upmarket to make room for its new Tucson sport wagon.
The Tucson is just 7 inches shorter than the Santa Fe, and the sticker prices nearly overlap. So Hyundai will create a price difference of $2,500 between the base Tucson and Santa Fe. The automaker also will recast the Santa Fe's image.
Hyundai plans to tout value and safety in marketing the Tucson. Standard features include stability control and heated exterior mirrors, as well as side-curtain, seat-mounted and side-impact airbags.
The Tucson's base price is $18,094, including destination. The sport wagon is based on the Elantra platform. Sales began last month.
"We want Tucson to be a younger, edgier, more fun, more youthful product," said Paul Sellers, executive director of Hyundai Motor America's marketing division. He was interviewed at a press event here.
The Santa Fe offers a little more cargo space. It will be touted as a family vehicle. A new commercial featuring an expectant mother heading to the hospital airs in January.
To create the $2,500 price gap between the two models, Hyundai no longer will offer a four-cylinder Santa Fe. Beginning with 2005 models, all Santa Fes will get a V-6.
The four-cylinder 2004 Santa Fe base model had an $18,594 sticker price, including transportation. Prices for the 2005 Santa Fe have not been announced, but Sellers expects the base model to start around $20,000, plus freight.
The Tucson is the newest competitor in the booming entry-level sport wagon segment. The niche is made up of models such as the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V.
Sales in the segment rose 14.2 percent to 731,727 in the first 10 months of this year compared to the year-ago period.
Dan Gorrell, vice president of Strategic Vision in San Diego, expects the compact SUV segment to continue to grow. "Maybe not alternatives to the great big SUVs," he says. "But certainly some people realize that that type of vehicle does just fine for a lot of needs."
Along with safety and value pricing, Hyundai expects Tucson's high content level to draw buyers. "We think that is an important component of our customer satisfaction plan," said John Krafcik, vice president for strategic planning and product planning at Hyundai Motor America.
Standard equipment on the base Tucson GL includes air conditioning and power windows, door locks and mirrors. A 140-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is teamed with a five-speed manual transmission.
Two other Tucson models are offered: the GLS, which has an automatic transmission and a 173-hp, 2.7-liter V-6, at $20,594; and the LX at $21,844. Both prices include transportation. All-wheel-drive is optional on all Tucson models.
While the redesigned 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe will grow to accommodate seven-passenger seating, it will remain shorter than the mid-sized SUVs of Ford and Chevrolet.
The 2007 Santa Fe will be assembled in Alabama and enter production in spring 2006.
The size of the current generation, five-passenger Santa Fe was dictated by the intent to sell that vehicle globally, says John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America vice president of strategic planning and product planning.
The redesigned Santa Fe will be sold in Korea. But "the target customer is the American consumer," says Krafcik, who was interviewed at a press event here.
"In terms of the overall size of the (2007) Santa Fe, it is not going to be too big," he says. "It is not going to be Explorer size. But the third-row seat in that vehicle will hold an adult."
Hyundai will launch a larger sport wagon a year or so after the new Santa Fe. It will share a platform with Hyundai's first minivan, arriving in spring 2006.
The minivan is expected to be about the size of the Dodge Grand Caravan, according to industry sources.
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101195
The Tucson is just 7 inches shorter than the Santa Fe, and the sticker prices nearly overlap. So Hyundai will create a price difference of $2,500 between the base Tucson and Santa Fe. The automaker also will recast the Santa Fe's image.
Hyundai plans to tout value and safety in marketing the Tucson. Standard features include stability control and heated exterior mirrors, as well as side-curtain, seat-mounted and side-impact airbags.
The Tucson's base price is $18,094, including destination. The sport wagon is based on the Elantra platform. Sales began last month.
"We want Tucson to be a younger, edgier, more fun, more youthful product," said Paul Sellers, executive director of Hyundai Motor America's marketing division. He was interviewed at a press event here.
The Santa Fe offers a little more cargo space. It will be touted as a family vehicle. A new commercial featuring an expectant mother heading to the hospital airs in January.
To create the $2,500 price gap between the two models, Hyundai no longer will offer a four-cylinder Santa Fe. Beginning with 2005 models, all Santa Fes will get a V-6.
The four-cylinder 2004 Santa Fe base model had an $18,594 sticker price, including transportation. Prices for the 2005 Santa Fe have not been announced, but Sellers expects the base model to start around $20,000, plus freight.
The Tucson is the newest competitor in the booming entry-level sport wagon segment. The niche is made up of models such as the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V.
Sales in the segment rose 14.2 percent to 731,727 in the first 10 months of this year compared to the year-ago period.
Dan Gorrell, vice president of Strategic Vision in San Diego, expects the compact SUV segment to continue to grow. "Maybe not alternatives to the great big SUVs," he says. "But certainly some people realize that that type of vehicle does just fine for a lot of needs."
Along with safety and value pricing, Hyundai expects Tucson's high content level to draw buyers. "We think that is an important component of our customer satisfaction plan," said John Krafcik, vice president for strategic planning and product planning at Hyundai Motor America.
Standard equipment on the base Tucson GL includes air conditioning and power windows, door locks and mirrors. A 140-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is teamed with a five-speed manual transmission.
Two other Tucson models are offered: the GLS, which has an automatic transmission and a 173-hp, 2.7-liter V-6, at $20,594; and the LX at $21,844. Both prices include transportation. All-wheel-drive is optional on all Tucson models.
While the redesigned 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe will grow to accommodate seven-passenger seating, it will remain shorter than the mid-sized SUVs of Ford and Chevrolet.
The 2007 Santa Fe will be assembled in Alabama and enter production in spring 2006.
The size of the current generation, five-passenger Santa Fe was dictated by the intent to sell that vehicle globally, says John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America vice president of strategic planning and product planning.
The redesigned Santa Fe will be sold in Korea. But "the target customer is the American consumer," says Krafcik, who was interviewed at a press event here.
"In terms of the overall size of the (2007) Santa Fe, it is not going to be too big," he says. "It is not going to be Explorer size. But the third-row seat in that vehicle will hold an adult."
Hyundai will launch a larger sport wagon a year or so after the new Santa Fe. It will share a platform with Hyundai's first minivan, arriving in spring 2006.
The minivan is expected to be about the size of the Dodge Grand Caravan, according to industry sources.
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101195
