Hyundai sources more Tucsons from Korea

HYUNDAI has taken the opportunity of a production switch for two more of its Tucson variants from the Czech Republic to South Korea to tweak its successful medium SUV range, including more power and performance for the entry level Active and mid-range Elite petrol variants.

Previously sourced from Hyundai Motor Czech’s factory where they were fitted with a 114kW multi-point fuel-injected 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder engine, the Tucson Active and Elite now come from Korea to Australia with the 121kW direct-injected GDi engine that was already available on the Korean-built Tucson Active X.

This means that the only remaining member of the four-variant Tucson range to come from Europe now is the flagship Highlander which retains a choice of 1.6-litre turbo petrol or 2.0-litre diesel engines.

Hyundai has also filled the gap in its Tucson mobile phone connectivity availability by fitting the Elite and Highlander with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, bringing them into line with the Active and Active X.

Pricing remains unchanged for all variants, starting with the petrol Active manual at $28,590 plus on-road costs and rising to $47,450 for the diesel automatic Highlander.

Tucson has been a growing success story for Hyundai in Australia, rising to second place in the medium SUV segment behind market leader Mazda CX-5.

In March, as CX-5 was in the middle of a major model change, Tucson topped the sales charts with 2156 sales compared with CX-5’s 2116. This placed Tucson in the top 10 in overall vehicle sales for the month.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia chief operating officer Scott Grant said Tucson had consistently been a star performer in Australia’s fastest-growing new-car market segment.

“SUV buyers increasingly demand the type of engineering quality, good design and bountiful features previously available only in prestige cars,” he said.

“The Hyundai Tucson has been able to deliver all those qualities, together with great value for money, in spades.

“Now, thanks to the MY18 changes we’ve just introduced, Tucson offers even more efficiency with state-of-the-art technology features to cement its position as a robust market leader.”

Apart from more power from the direct-injected GDi petrol engine, the manual Tucson Active makes a marginal gain in fuel economy, recording 7.8 litres per 100km on the combined test cycle (-0.1L/100km).

The six-speed automatic version in both the Active and Elite remains at 7.9L/100km.

The Tucson replaced the ix35 in the Hyundai range in 2015, becoming the company’s second biggest seller behind the i30 hatchback.

Tucson first quarter sales were up 4.8 per cent, helping to steady Hyundai’s overall sales that were down 8.2 per cent as its top-selling i30 went into run-out ahead of a major model change.

2017 Hyundai Tucson pricing*

Active 2.0 GDi 2WD	$28,590
Active 2.0 GDi 2WD (a)	$31,090
Active 2.0 CRDi AWD (a)	$35,090
Active X 2.0 GDi 2WD	$31,150
Active X 2.0 GDi 2WD (a)	$33,650
Elite 2.0 GDi 2WD (a)	$36,250
Elite 1.6 T-GDi AWD (a)	$39,250
Elite 2.0 CRDi AWD (a)	$41,250
Highlander 1.6 T-GDi AWD (a)	$45,450
Highlander 2.0 CRDi AWD (a)	$47,450

*Excludes on-road costs