Hyundai, producer of quality will unveil a fuel-cell electric concept vehicle at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. This is in connection with the company's commitment to develop eco-friendly mode of transportation.
This hydrogen-powered, zero-emission i-Blue fuel cell electric vehicle was created at Hyundai's Design and Technical Center in Chiba, Japan and based on Hyundai's third-generation fuel-cell technology that is being developed at the company's Eco-Technology Research Institute in Korea.
According to Hyundai, the introduction of the i-Blue signals the big move towards the marketing of Hyundai fuel-cell vehicles. The past test vehicles were built on SUV platforms but not the i-Blue which has its very own D-segment 2+2 crossover utility vehicle body.
Dr. Hyun-Soon Lee, President of Hyundai Research and Development said as quoted by motoring.co.za: "The i-Blue is the first Hyundai designed from the ground up to incorporate fuel-cell technology. We have achieved a more compact fuel-cell vehicle that still has the safety, comfort, convenience, and driving range of a conventional vehicle."
Hyundai also plans of mass producing hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles in the future.
In other news, this time on Hyundai's subsidiary in Beijing---Hyundai Motor's Chinese joint venture has announced last Monday that it will cut down the prices of its three models namely the Elantra, EF Sonata and Accent.
The price of the Elantra will go down by 14,000 to 15,000 yuan or around W1.74 million to W1.86 million. The EF Sonata will also go down by 16,000 yuan or W2 million while the Accent will have a drop in price by 5,000 to 8,100 yuan. After dropping out of China's top ten sales ranking last May, Hyundai has tried to win back consumers by offering incentive packages. And currently, it has decided to remove the incentives and replace them with discounts.
The incentives that were previously offered by Hyundai Motor are equivalent to a seven or eight percent markdown while the price cuts range from eight to fourteen percent.
Hyundai has been facing fierce competition in China with other automakers putting pressure on the Korean automaker to slash prices. And with other automakers, Hyundai is referring to Shanghai GM which has dropped its prices by 8.3 to 8.4 percent, FAW Volkswagen which has cut prices by 6.2 to 6.3 percent, Shanghai Volkswagen by 10 to 11.1 percent and Dongfeng Nissan which has offered discount of 8.3 to 9.8 percent.
In order to become competitive Hyundai has also cut its prices and now the company will have to workout on how to improve its cost structure.
