Yesterday I spoke of the extraordinary value of the new Kia Picanto light, today another new Korean small car, the third-generation Hyundai i30 five-door hatchback – the outgoing i30 is our third-best selling small car. Further reinforcing what I said yesterday about the added value in small cars today the new Hyundai i30 not only gains $2,000 in extra equipment but the entry Active manual will now start at $20,950, $500 less than the outgoing model. What is obvious however is Hyundai will no longer offer 19,990 drive-away deals with free automatic as it tries to lift sales of higher spec models.

According to the company its mid-spec cars are very highly specified compared to the competition. However, at the price sensitive end of the car market this will not be an easy task. The entry i3 0 Active now gains a 2.0-litre four-cylinder in lieu of the 1.8-litre with power and torque up by around 10%. Higher grade models feature 1.6-litre CRDi turbo-diesel and GDi petrol engines and a big lift in specification however in the mid-25,000 bracket the competition from small cars like the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla becomes rather intense and whether Hyundai can lift the sales percentage of its higher grade i30 models remains to be seen. Over a long period it has developed a 19,990 drive-away culture with free auto that will be hard to break – $1,000 extra at this end of the market is enough to turn buyers away. I’m David Berthon

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