Accent triples Hyundai’s sub-$20K range

Hyundai's small car strategy is taking shape with the confirmation that the Accent city car will be sold here as a hatchback.

Joining the soon-to-arrive Accent sedan in an expanding small car range, the announcement that the Accent hatch and sedan will go on sale in August gives Hyundai four distinct small cars - i20 hatch, Accent sedan and hatch, i30 hatch and Elantra sedan.

At least three of those models - i20, Accent and i30 - will be priced below $20,000, giving Hyundai a burgeoning line-up in a segment that's renowned for being price sensitive but increasingly popular with downsizers and younger buyers.

While the multi-pronged strategy could confuse would-be buyers it's largely designed to effectively substitute sales of the soon to be discontinued Getz that has regularly been a top seller for the brand. The Getz has regularly made up more than a quarter of the brand's sales.

Accompanying the latest arrival will be a reshuffle that will see the i20 positioned as more of a price leader in the range, although one that is still charged with competing with more established players such as the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2, Honda Jazz, Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo.

Hyundai Australia chief executive Edward Lee won't go into details about exactly how the Accent hatch will be positioned, other than to say it will sit between the i20 hatch (from $15,990 drive-away) and the i30 hatch (from $18,990). Best guesses are that the Accent hatch would be priced from $16,990 drive-away.

"Maybe a little bit," says Lee when quizzed about whether the i20 would reduce in price.

"But at the moment we have a supply constraint [with i20].

"But when Getz phases out we'll be repositioning a bit, but not much."

However, the prices are likely to be significantly higher than the $12,990 Getz, which after a decade finished production last year. While there are some Getzes in showrooms they're expected to run out soon.

Lee said there were also options to offer more "incentives" on the i20 once Getz stocks were depleted, although he refused to elaborate on what they entailed.

Hyundai has previously said that free or fixed price servicing could form part of its new-car sales incentives.
But Lee also said that "maybe we can be stronger on drive-away pricing".

The Accent will initially be powered exclusively by the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder fitted to all but the entry-level version of the i20.