From Europe to China, the world’s biggest auto market, Hyundai is shifting more cars while industry sales sputter.

In Europe, industry sales dropped 8% in the first quarter, but Hyundai posted double-digit sales growth, and is expected to post more gains thanks to new models such as the fullyrevamped i30 compact.

Hyundai also increased its Chinese sales in January-March, in a market that shrank 1.3%, analysts said.

Hyundai plans to start production at new plants in China and Brazil this year, after a new factory went into production in Russia last year. It has capped global production capacity at 7 million vehicles, saying it doesn’t want to follow Toyota, once its benchmark, which suffered from a major recall crisis after it ramped up global capacity.

In the United States, Ford Motor and others have also upgraded their 2012 sales goals after an unexpectedly strong first quarter as drivers finally put the 2008-09 downturn behind them and began replacing ageing gas guzzlers.

The maker of the Sonata sedan and Elantra compact increased its U.S. sales by 15% in January-March, edging the overall market’s 14% gain, but its market share slipped to 4.7% from 5.1% as its stretched production capacity meant it couldn’t readily boost output.

The world’s fifth-biggest automaker, with affiliate Kia Motors, is expected to report later on Thursday a 10% increase in January-March net profit to 2.07 trillion won ($1.81 billion), according to a consensus forecast by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/ S, on strong overseas sales.

Full-year 2012 net profit is forecast at a record $7.76 billion, according to Thomson Reuters SmartEstimates.

“Hyundai’s sales gains in major markets are not slowing,” said Song Sang-hun, a StarMine top-ranked analyst at Kyobo Securities.

“The market was concerned that a weakening yen would help Japanese rivals boost sales and win back market share, but this actually had little impact on Hyundai’s sales in the first quarter.”

According to the car manufacturer, the Hyundai Langdeng, which is the Elantra name in China, means “dynamic for the young, new generation”, and styling updated on the model are minimal. The most significant change is the restyled front grille, along with the air intake on the front fascia, and these have been made in order for the model to differentiate easily from the Elantra.

“A decade ago, Hyundai was known for making only small cars. Today, our Equus and Genesis* luxury cars compete with the best vehicles that Europe can make,” Seung-Tack Kim, Executive Vice President & COO of Hyundai Motor’s Global Business Division, said in Beijing today. “Ten years ago, we were a follower in the auto industry. Today, we are a leader – and ready for the future.”

The Hyundai Langdeng will get two engine options, where the entry-level will be powered by a 1.6 liter unit, which is generating 125 horsepower and 155 Nm of torque (114 lb-ft), while the 1.8 liter will be offered as an option, with its 144 HP and 174 Nm of torque (128 lb-ft). Both engines can be mated to a six-speed manual or an automatic transmission. The model will go on sale in China later this year.

“The boost in performance is due to the strong sales of passenger car models such as the i10, Accent and the Elantra,” HARI said.

Sales of passenger car units were more than doubled to 4,297 units from 1,889 in 2011.

This offset a 13% annual decline in light commercial vehicle sales to 2,470 units from 2,823.

In March alone, sales rose by 37% to 2,245 units from 1,633 last year.

Growth was mainly due to the 159% increase in passenger cars, to 1,316 units in the first quarter compared to 509 units a year ago, HARI said.

Sales of light commercial vehicles, however, dropped by 17%, to 929 units from 1,124.

With HARI figures, the partial industry sales count for March now stands at 15,876 units, up 3.2% from 15,383 last year.

This is a reversal of the 0.87% drop reported by CAMPI sans Hyundai sales.

“We are optimistic that this trend will extend into [the second quarter],” Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, HARI president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

She added that sales will be propped up by the popularity of Hyundai passenger car models such as Elantra, which has been named 2012 Car of the Year.

The newly launched EON model is also expected to draw in sales, Ms. Perez-Agudo said.

She went on to cite the results of the central bank’s Consumer Expectations Survey, which claimed that consumer demand is expected to remain strong amid optimistic outlooks in jobs, salary, investment inflows and remittances.

HARI’s current performance has kept it as the third top seller in the Philippines after the local arms of Toyota Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

This limited edition which is going to be available in Australia will have an added extra cabin gear, sharp exterior features and more safety equipment than what is now available in the large SUV. This launch comes just after the all new Hyundai Santa Fe was introduced at the recently concluded New York Motor Show. A long wheelbase version was promoted along the standard wheelbase model.

This limited edition is to hit the showrooms in Australia this week. It draws its name from the famous nineteenth century transport route through Central North America like the famous China Silk route and also the Errol Flynn film of the same name. The Santa Fe Trail will offer a handful of comfort and safety features.

The Santa Fe Trail is raising the stakes when it comes to safety technology by adding a rear view camera that features an electro-chromatic mirror display. The camera operates with a rear tail mounted system and it tracks the path of the car when the reverse gear is engaged by relaying the image to the rear view mirror. This comes instantly into the vision of the driver.

A roof mounted entertainment system will offer many hours of playing DVD movies for rear seat passengers. They can also play audio CDs and MP3 playbacks. This unit is so versatile that it is compatible with Nintendo Gameboy and Sony PlayStation. It comes with twin sets of headphones and a remote control.

The Santa Fe Trail edition will feature leather seating to add that extra appeal for keen customers. The steering wheel is also leather wrapped and so is the transmission shift knob. The privacy glass has become standard on all rear windows as it aids in reducing heat from outside and offers a shaded cabin space.

The exterior of Santa Fe Trail features eighteen-inch alloy wheels to give it an upmarket look. It has streamlined front and rear skid plates with a chrome tailgate garnish. The rear tailgate also highlights a signature badge. The roof racks have a premium black piano finish.

The Santa Fe Trail is coming with a standard package which has a suite of active and passive safety features which has already earned it the crash performance five-star ANCAP rating. Across the range, there is a standard Electronic Stability Control (ESC) which has a Tractional Control System (TCS). It also has driver and front passenger airbags, dual side front thorax airbags and side curtain airbags that even extend to the third row. Also being given in the standard package are the rollover sensors and the rear park assist system. The car also has front and rear fog lamps and cruise control with steering mounted fingertip controls.

The Santa Fe Trail will be available in all-wheel-drive edition as well as in R-series 2.2-liter CRDi diesel engine. The limited edition Santa Fe Trail will offer color palettes of Vanilla White, Blue Spirit, Phantom Black, Stone Grey and Titanium Silver.

About five years ago, Hyundai designers and management decided to finally tackle their identity issue, which was the lack of one. There wasn’t a way to immediately spot a Hyundai car on the road, the way one can with a BMW, Audi, Buick or even Toyota.

The solution was a design concept dubbed “fluidic sculpture.” The main elements: arched lines that appear to flow aerodynamically from a point at the front-center of the car, contrasting surfaces, headlights that looked like eagle eyes.

The ideas first took form in the Sonata sedan released at the end of 2009, which was dramatically different from its predecessor. They’ve quickly spread through the rest of the line-up, with even the boxy Equus luxury sedan getting some angled flair. Recently, Hyundai said that it would revamp the Sonata for the 2014 model year, meaning the existing model will have had a lifecycle of just four years, relatively short for mid-range cars.

But there’s a danger that taking a single look too far would damage, rather than enhance, Hyundai’s sales. Buyers of $35,000 and $50,000 cars don’t necessarily want their car to carry the same lines as one that sells for less than $10,000. (Indeed, the sculpted lines of Hyundai’s new Santa Fe are less extreme than on some other models.)

That’s a risk that BMW, Buick and the like don’t face because their range of vehicles is more limited. Even Hyundai’s sister company Kia, which itself is on a streak of design successes, competes in fewer model categories.

Buyers will get a chance to purchase the Santa Fe Sport this summer, and it looks to challenge competitors head on in terms of content and interior room like the Sonata and Elantra have in their segments.

The exterior and interior are completely new, as you can see here. It’s a handsome look outside but not very daring in any way. Inside, the design looks similar to the smaller Tucson crossover with materials being a bit higher end like those in the new Azera.

But for crossovers, the main concern is space. Hyundai didn’t reveal every interior dimension for the Santa Fe Sport, but overall passenger volume is 108 cubic feet, which is a hair’s-breadth away from the Ford Edge’s 108.4. The Santa Fe Sport has more cargo room behind the second row, 35.4 cubic feet compared with the Edge’s 32.2. The Hyundai is 0.4 inches longer outside, however.

There are also plenty of storage bins, consoles and pockets of all sorts throughout the cabin.

Engines are the same as those offered for the Sonata sedan: a base 190-horsepower four-cylinder or a 264-hp turbocharged four. Either can be equipped with all-wheel drive, and all come with a six-speed automatic transmission standard.

Fuel economy is estimated to be 23/33 mpg city/highway and 26 mpg combined for the base four-cylinder and 23/31 mpg and 25 mpg combined for the turbo. The numbers are at the high end of the segment.

One of Hyundai’s chief advantages in the market is delivering a lot of content at a good price. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t provided a list of standard features or pricing. We hope to have both for our readers soon.

According to recent reports, Hyundai Motors America will have its best monthly sales in March, according to a tweet sent out by the CEO.
“We’ll set an all-time sales record in March, thx to 35-40mpg Sonata, Hybrid, Accent, Elantra, Veloster. Welcome all new Hyundai owners! ^jfk” said John Krafcik, CEO of the Hyundai brand in America.

The increased sales have something to do with the ebb and flow of the market in the spring month. But with gas at a national average of $3.9 right now, there’s no way to ignore the fact that the Sonata is supposed to do 40 miles per gallon.

The diesel variants will be priced from Rs 5.96 lakh to Rs 7.44 lakh and the automatic variant at Rs 7.67 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), it added.

While the petrol variant is powered by 1.2 litre engine, the diesel option has a 1.4 litre engine.

HMIL Managing Director and CEO BS Seo said the company has incorporated research findings in the new i-Gen i20 to meet requirements of hi-tech and innovative features seeking customers.

The company said it has added new features like the rear parking camera with display in the cabin mirror, electro chromic mirror which offers anti-glare vision during night time driving to the ‘iGen i20′.

The 1.2 Kappa petrol engine now gets dual variable valve timing and makes 84PS of power as opposed to the 80PS from the earlier motor. The diesel variants are powered by the 90PS 1.4 U2 CRDi diesel but Hyundai have reverted to a 6-speed unit instead of the 5-speed one.

The 1.4 Gamma petrol automatic delivers 100PS of power and 136Nm of torque. The exterior changes include a new hexagonal front grille and stylised headlights in line with Hyundai’s ‘fluidic’ design ethos. Feature-wise, Hyundai has included automatic headlamps for the higher variants along with rain sensing wipers and reverse camera.

Hyundai had discontinued production of the fifth-generation Sonata, earlier in January, this year. The upgraded version has now been introduced to take on the likes of Honda Accord and Skoda Superb.

“The all new Sonata powered by our GDi engine offers best-in-class features. Competitively priced, the Sonata offers a stylish new choice to the premium customer,” said B S Seo, managing director and chief executive officer, HMIL. While the manual transmission version of the Sonata is priced at Rs 18,53 lakh, the automatic transmission one is available at Rs 20,61 lakh.

The premium sedan segment in which Sonata is positioned registers sales of 6,000 units annually. Skoda Superb, with sales of 2,731 units till February this financial year, is a leader in the category. Hyundai could sell only 106 units of the fifth-generation Sonata during the period.

The company, which had showcased the sixth generation version of the Sonata at the 11th Auto Expo here in January, has already commenced production of the sedan since February this year. The car has a localisation content of 15 per cent and will be assembled from completely knocked down units at its plant in Chennai.

Hyundai has launched the new Sonata with a 2.4 litre GDi petrol engine and a six-speed transmission system. The new Sonata comes with a host of features like front and rear seat ventilation, front seat warmers, high intensity xenon head lamps, cruise control, six airbags.

With an eye on shoring up volumes, HMIL is looking at introducing a complete line-up in the domestic market over the next three years.

While the company brought in premium sports utility vehicle Santa Fe to draw in consumers at the upper end of the spectrum in October 2010, it introduced a small car Eon in October 2011. HMIL has sold 359,647 units till February this financial year, registering a growth of 6.75 per cent.

Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest auto group along with its affiliate Kia Motors, has only one new model planned for a global launch this year. It started taking pre-orders on Wednesday for the new Santa Fe sports utility vehicle, which will be unveiled in April.

The latest version of the Sonata was launched in September 2009 in South Korea and early 2010 in the United States.

Sonata, which competes with Toyota Motor Corp’s Camry, is Hyundai’s top-selling model in the United States and helped the South Korean automaker achieve record sales and market share there last year. It was Hyundai’s third-best selling model in South Korea last year.

Hyundai’s domestic car sales are increasingly coming under pressure following free trade deals with Europe and the United States that have boosted international automakers’ access to South Korea’s formerly sheltered market.

Sales of imported cars topped 10 percent of the market for the first time in January this year, according to industry data.

Toyota has started to sell U.S.-made Camry sedans in South Korea and is considering importing cars from Europe as it seeks to boost local sales by 160 percent to 13,000 vehicles this year, and Lexus sales by 90 percent to 8,000.

Hyundai chief executive Kim Choong-ho also told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry meeting that the revamped version of the large-sized Genesis would be introduced in late 2013.

Shares in Hyundai fell 0.9 percent by 0310 GMT, versus a 0.6 percent rise in the broader market.