CEO says Hyundai "green line more advanced than Prius"
Toyota pretty much has the hybrid market cornered right now with its Prius sedan, and the automaker is reaping the benefits of the model's fuel efficiency in the form of record sales. This fact also makes Toyota the envy of various other automakers, considering that their hybrid sales make up a sliver of the overall market. This being the case, nearly every competitor is currently developing advanced hybrid models of their own, including Hyundai, which plans on offering hybrid models for sale in the year 2010.
According to Hyundai CEO Dr. Kim Dong-Jin, its new hybrid technology is "more advanced than the Prius." Don-Jin goes even further, calling the best-selling hybrid model "now quite old-tech." The first Prius was designed back in the late '90s while the current model has been on sale since 2002, and we all know how quickly technology advances. Still, calling out the Prius, which is pretty much the preeminent green car in the world, before your answer to it is even on the market, isn't likely to win the Korean company any friends. Plus, a next-generation Prius with a new version of the company's Hybrid Synergy Drive in on its way and will likely reach showrooms by the time Hyundai begins offering its own hybrid. Yes Hyundai, your first hybrid may be better than today's Prius, but can it beat tomorrow's?
[Source: Autocar (print edition) via Winding Road]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Seoultrain 2:33PM (5/30/2008)
The next Prius will no longer have fuel-efficiency as its only goal, so I'd think that someone could very easily punt them off their pedestal.
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SPG 2:35PM (5/30/2008)
If Hyundai can inject some of their (only slightly) more intresting styling into Prius beating mechanicals and even sell it for less then that's a huge hit on their hands.
I know Hyundai is being accepted by more and more people everyday and having one of the best (or so they hope) hybrid's is going to change even more people's opinions.
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Brian 2:36PM (5/30/2008)
Hey Jinny-boy- Current model has been on sale since 2004 not 2002.
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Jeff Banks 2:42PM (5/30/2008)
Toyota is going to sell an awful lot of hybrids before 2010
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blogged to death 2:49PM (5/30/2008)
Well Hyundai...I'll one up you - the Volt is better than your hybrid's old tech! Oh wait it's not out yet and can't be proven you tell me?
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kory kickul 2:54PM (5/30/2008)
good luck to hyundai........ they will need it.....
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inteller 2:54PM (5/30/2008)
Hyundai's hybrid probably is better since they most likely copied the entire thing from Toyota and made an incremental improvement.
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Way of the Future 2:55PM (5/30/2008)
Hyundai is up and coming, but seriously to put Toyota on "blast" like that is a big no no. The 'rat head' will definitely eat your 'H'
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Juan 6:38PM (5/30/2008)
Well... They didn't exactly put Toyota on blast. They seemed to just be stating facts... Even though they cannot be proven just yet. But I would hope that Hyundai's hybrid tech would be more advanced than tech that came out in the 90s. Thats common sense... Just like Hyundai's 06 Sonata was more advanced than the Camry that came out for 02-06. But that doesn't mean that its ready for the NEXT generation. So Hyundai didn't put anyone on blast...
icu812ru469 2:57PM (5/30/2008)
Amongst Asians, Asians in general hate Koreans for their arrogance. Even with WWII and Japanese aggression, Korean are still seen as being more arrogant, and this just goes to show it even more. Time to walk the walk Hyundai after doing much talking about how you'll talk on Toyota, Honda, and the likes in quality and stuff. Genesis is coming, hybrid is too... let's see if the general public agrees with you.
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Tim 3:17PM (5/30/2008)
Arrogance is a impfalted sense of one's own dignity or worth. One example is when one person treats their own opinions as indisputable facts.
Hyundai however may want to have a hybrid on the market first before they bash a competitors.
Brandon 6:53PM (5/30/2008)
Korean tends to believe that they're smarter than the rest of the world. Japanese thinks their leaders are gods. Chinese thinks they're many.
:O 12:35PM (5/31/2008)
Every asian country hates each other dumb ass
Japanese hate the koreans the most cause of there popular growth and that the Korean wave has been growing faster than the Japanese wave
most of the handset biz is covered by Korean phones
and Korea is to become No.1 in global skyscraper race
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/117_22458.html
In Japan, a comic book with a title usually translated as "Hating the Korean Wave" sold enough copies that a sequel was released. The book has been accused of promoting hatred and containing historical inaccuracies showing that Japan has no heart
Louis 3:22PM (5/30/2008)
Boy, and I thought Toyota's bash on the Volt was stupid...
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Temple 3:32PM (5/30/2008)
Its kinda funny that when the Pruis was launched in 1998 (in Japan) and 2000 in the US (1999 for the Honda Insight). Gas was so damn cheap (I remember gas being below a dollar a gallon), and the the Prius was being ridiculed for pointlessness in the ocean of SUVs.
Prius was Toyota's insurance policy that gas would go up in the next decade. It obviously was the right move considering what gas prices are now.
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Red 4:12PM (5/30/2008)
I'm making a prediction today. The same car that pushed Toyota to "forefront of technology" will be the same car that befalls it.
Anyway, the Prius, while a wonderful marketing machine, doesn't get nearly the mileage Toyota has falsely advertised it'd get these past number of years. The Synergy system is far more complicated than other Hybrid systems. Complicated doesn't necessarily equal better. I wouldn't be surprised of Hyundai didn't have a decent tech on its hands, but their arrogance is irritating. They mentioned they want to have this out by 2010 and they're comparing it to the current Prius. The next Prius is due by 2010. I also wouldn't be surprised if Hyundai, failing to mention that, has their arrogant asses handed to them.
tekdemon 9:38AM (6/02/2008)
Red, it's complicated, but it also gets the best mileage of any car sold in the US, even accounting for the fact that the mileage isn't quite like what the old EPA numbers were.
And so far it's also been the most reliable hybrid system, and half the other hybrids out there license some or all of the Hybrid Synergy Drive. Nissan completely uses HSD, and Ford licenses part of it for their hybrids as well.
And, far as I know, Toyota's hybrid system is also the only one that's totally profitable now and doesn't require insane markups (like the Tahoe) to cover the price of the hybrid system. Maybe the complexity meant losing more money per vehicle in the early days, compared to the simpler system Honda used, but I think Toyota made the right choice in going all out on the HSD.
Complex is only bad if it makes things overly expensive and unreliable. If you can pull off complex while keeping it cheap and reliable, that's just impressive.
psu48187 3:32PM (5/30/2008)
Instead of all the flapping, get the frigging thing to the market already.
Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford, GM already have a running head start....
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Ian 3:40PM (5/30/2008)
IMHO the new Hyundai Genesis is a Lexus beater.
Hyundai are correct that the US spec Prius is old tech. The European version allows only electric power, whereas the US model doesn't. Hence Prius, while the 2007 hybrid leader, is about to be in a battle with many manufacturers inlcuding GM. It is quite likely that Hyundai will have decided to bring to market something as revolutionary as GM's EVolt in 2010 and that's NOT very far away.
In the meantime we are all giving Hyundai much needed free publicity for their coming hybrid effort. I doubt we would be doing that if Hyundai's Execs low balled their new efforts....
Korea's Hyundai arrogant? Yup, but so are the major Japanese comglomerates. I've visited both many times.
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psu48187 4:34PM (5/30/2008)
Lexus better as in the GS?
And by 'electric power only' do you mean accelerate utilizing batter power only?