New frontier for Hyundai

Hyundai plans to spend more than $1.8 billion on a major offensive in the commercial vehicle market to catch up with rivals who are leading in this segment. The Korean marque believes the commercial market is set to grow by 30 per cent in each of the next five years so it will invest $363.13 million to raise production of vans, trucks and buses in Korea by 2020. Hyundai also plans to introduce premium models in North America and Europe. The marque lost share in the US market last year, because it had very few pickup models, which have become more popular as fuel prices drop. The US is Hyundai's second-biggest overseas market after China. Analysts say to launch commercial vehicles there and challenge established rivals will take considerable time. "Hyundai and Kia need to bolster their weak commercial vehicle business to reach an annual production capacity of 10 million vehicles, from about 8 million currently," says Suh Sung-moon at Korea Investment & Securities. Earlier this year Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz ute concept, with production plans still unconfirmed. Hyundai Australia’s chief operating officer John Elsworth says the distributor will put its hands up for a ute if and when the model is announced for production. “We have no doubt such a tough, good-looking Hyundai ute will be popular with Australians,” says Elsworth. “But we do not make decisions about which vehicles to bring to market – those decisions are in the hands of our parent company in Korea. “However we’ve made our enthusiasm for the Santa Cruz very clear – it surely has enormous potential – and we look forward to seeing how things progress in the near future.”