One of my favourite- Why do I bother?
Part 1:
ix20
Now we’ve been through Hyundai’s European naming system of i-(multiple of 5), and for their crossover/SUVs they used to use an ix-(multiple of 5) system. However the ix20 is obviously not a crossover, and they never advertised it as such. It was introduced in 2010, and every now and than I see one on the road and think, they still haven’t killed it yet?
Kona / Kauai / ENCINO
This really looks like one of those hatchbacks with plastic cladding, but there isn’t a “regular” version! The ENCINO (With an unfortunate Caps Lock) is the Chinese version of the Kona, and is apparently more sporty than the Kona, and is lower and wider apparently? The website is amazing though, its got dolphins, parrots and street dance. What more could you want?
NEXO / Nexo
So can someone please tell me why this exists, instead of just a Kona Fuel Cell version? They’re the same size for heavens sake! And the name is written in capitals. Except for the USA for some reason.
Creta / ix25 / Cantus
This small little crossover that would sell big numbers is only for emerging markets and China. Shame? Nah..
Also, I had no idea this existed, but turns out the Santa Cruz concept had a little brother: The Hyundai Creta STC Concept. I wonder what STC stands for, Santa’s Tiny Cruz-on?
Tucson / New Tucson
A strong contender for the most generic CUV on sale, it’s the Tucson!
ix35
Elsewhere in the world the old Tucson was called the ix35. When the current gen came out, the name reverted to Tucson again in those parts, but in Brazil you can still buy the old ix35 with a snazzy facelift taken from the Fuel Cell version.
ix35
China also sold the old ix35 well past it’s sell by date, but when it was discontinued, they re-used the name on a brand new crossover. They also sell the current gen Tucson in China, so the two just kinda co-exist.
Tucson
But you thought we were done with the Tucsons huh? Hyundai Brazil currently sells THREE different generations of the Tucson alongside each other. The current gen is known as the New Tucson there. Apparently one of the cheapest ways to armoured car ownership.
Santa Fe
What was once known as the Santa Fe Sport is now being renamed to just Santa Fe. Lets hope this trend of calling the smaller model the Sport continues dying off.
Maxcruz / Santa Fe XL
...while the Grand Santa Fe has been briefly renamed to Santa Fe XL right before it’s demise. Don’t know why they bothered, the change is so minor it doesn’t make any apparent difference in perception.
Something to note, the Grand Santa Fe was never sold in most European countries as it was too big, they only got the regular version. Despite that, the Santa Fes sold in Europe are nonetheless still available with 7 seats, while American’s are forced up to the XL if they need the third row. And they’ll be forced up even more to the...
Palisade
The gargantuan indirect replacement to the Grand Santa Fe. And yeah, that’s it for the CUVs. Couple years ago that would been considered overkill. but now it’s flipped. You know what Hyundai has plenty of though?
i20 Van
Commercial vehicles! Yay!
Now car based vans are a major interest for me, so seeing this super lazy version makes me mad. All it is is an i20 5 door with the seats taken out and a bulkhead! Personally proper car based vans should be 3 doors (And an i20 3 door was available!), and the rear windows should be covered up with sheet metal (They couldn’t be bothered to even black out the glass! Instead they left the parcel shelf in!). A truly horrendous blah blah blah blah........
Grand Starex / H-1 / H1 / i800 / iMax / iLoad
For the longest time this was Hyundai’s only proper van. Weird, considering how extensive the rest of their commercial offerings are. As you can see it’s pretty goddamn old, but that didn’t stop them from recently coming out with a pretty extensive facelift this year. It got a new bumpers and a complete interior overhaul. Laughably, the cheaper work versions still have the same dated interior as before.
Some places like the UK don’t even get the facelift, and it stays languishing as a 12 year old van that nobody buys. Hmm I wonder why.
Solati / H350
They’ve also recently brought out a much more modern van, although it’s a size larger than the Starex, so it doesn’t replace it, but is sold alongside it. The thing is, I think South Korea is the only place where both models are sold together, everywhere else either gets this, or is still stuck with the van that first came out over a decade ago.
Porter II / H-100 / H100 / HR
The extremely popular tiny truck segment in Asia, and apparently this is one of the country’s biggest sellers. Neat.
HD35 / HD45 / HD50 / Mighty N250
Now we’re entering serious boredom territory. It’s not gonna get too exciting past this point.
HD55 / HD65 / HD72 / HD78 / Mighty 75S / Mighty 110S
Great names.
Mighty / EX-10
Seriously, they should consider bringing some of these to Europe. Why don’t they sell them here?
Mega Truck / HD 120 / HD 160 MAX / HD 210
Wow, ok that name is quite literal.
New Power Truck / HD 270 / HD 450 / HD 600 / HD 700 / HD 1000
You see the word new slapped around everywhere on car websites, so I assumed it was some marketing stuff, but according to the ever reliable Wikipedia, that’s part of the model name. Also has a ton of numerical model names.
Xcient
Funny how the Xcent and the Xcient have such similar names but are at the exact opposite ends in terms of size. This thing would look right in place on European roads.
County
Now we’re moving on the Hyundai’s extensive lineup of buses and coaches! Ladies! I know it’s exciting, but keep your panties on! Hyundai uses a naming scheme of settlements to denote general size, and I guess the areas where these vehicles are most suited to. So for their smallest coach, it’s called the county....
Aerotown
..while their second smallest is called the town. Makes sense right? Wait aren’t most towns located in a county? I’m confused now.
Green City
Now we have a bunch of buses called city. This one is called the Green City thanks to it’s CNG engines.
Super Aero City
They used to make a bus called just the Aero, so I guess this is the successor? Than again there was that Aerotown earlier on. There’s also another Hyundai Aero, which is a phone?
Unicity
Ermm, what does the Uni stand for? Maybe it’s popular as a school bus for Korean universities?
Elec City
One of the few bus models here that doesn’t look like they’re still in the nineties, I’m impressed at the design parity between this and some of Hyundai’s other electric vehicles.
Universe
I love the logic behind this naming scheme. There’s county, than town, than city. What’s next, country right? No we’re going straight to the entire GODDAMN UNIVERSE!
Ohhh, Unicity is a combination of Universe and City! Wait that still makes no sense!
Bare Chassis / Chasís County III Extralong / Chasís County IV Plus
Oh and bare chassis versions of most of their buses are also available. They have some funky names in Peru, what’s the difference between Extralong and Plus? Must be the same person that renamed the Santa Fes.
Recently Departed
Get ready, cos Hyundai have been on some killing sprees recently.
Over in Algeria, they have put out the final editions of what was called the Accent Executive, the 2nd gen from 1999. (If you hurry, their webpage is still up!) They were exported from India, despite not being sold in there for several years.
Elsewhere, until recently you could still get a 3rd gen Elantra from 2001 in Venezuela!
Hyundai used to sell the old Elantra as the Elantra 朗動 ( Lǎng dòng) alongside the 4th and current 6th gens we met earlier, and was actually more expensive than both of them.
They also used to sell the 4th gen 1998 Sonata as the Sonata MoInCa in China.
Although not models per say, in Thailand the Starex used to be only available as the H-1 Deluxe, with an exclusive bumper. Why does only Thailand get it? Shrugs shoulders.
Malaysia also gets an exclusive version, the Grand Starex Royale. As you can see it has-OH GOD CLOSE YOUR EYES!
I guess this Lexus-wannabe has gotten some dental work so it can help compete against the overstyled JDM vans. Anyways both these versions have been simply replaced by the regular facelifted versions.
Speaking of Malaysia, until recently, they still sold the old i10. Kinda, a company called Inokom is responsible for Hyundai’s Malaysian operations (along with BMW and Mazda). However unlike most of these companies, they rebadged the Hyundai’s and sold them as their own, so you got Inokom Getz and Inokom Santa Fes. (Naza, the company responsible for Kia and others did the same thing.) They’ve since abandoned that, and are now sold as Hyundais again, however the i10 was one of the last holdouts of this era (though they still rebadge a few Hyundai trucks as their own). But when you went the page for the Hyundai i10 on Hyundai Malaysia’s website, it had Inokom badges, but was advertised as a Hyundai (Now the page is removed along with the car). And yet, when you head to Inokom’s personal (outdated and abandoned) website, they advertised the i10 with Hyundai badges. ???
Anyways that’s hopefully every single Hyundai they make. I really thought this was gonna be a shorter list, but with the Chinese saloons and the commercial vehicles, I guess not.