Hyundai i10 ES and i30 ES announced

Hyundai’s range of cars has certainly come a long way in the last few years, due to big improvements in the design and quality of their cars, and of course some good marketing. And in times as tough as these people really are sitting up and taking notice of ‘Budget’ cars in a way not seen for a very long time.

Hyundai are cleverly playing the ‘Scrappage Card’ with their range, and offering some very good headline prices for their already economical range. And, just like many other car makers, they are going down the ‘More for Less’ route, which has always appealed to buyers, whatever the product.

So Hyundai has announced this morning two additions to their range – the Hyundai i10 ES and the Hyundai i30 ES – to grab a few headlines, highlight their low prices and make the most of the Scrappage budget before it runs out.

The Hyundai i10 ES offers all that the basic model does – air bags, central locking, electric windows and aircon – but throws in driver’s seat height adjustment, remote central locking and a ‘colour insert’ titivate of the interior and exterior. And if you throw in the Scrappage allowance (£1k from us and £1k from Hyundai) you can grab a Hyundai i10 ES for a smidge over £5,000. Just 1,000 i10 ES models are up for grabs.

If you need something a tad bigger, Hyundai has also announced an ES version of the i30. This gets the same bits as the Comfort model, but throws in climate control, 16″ alloys and reversing sensors. A bit of interior and exterior titivation as on the i10 ES, but this time with silver/alloy highlights. Again, the Scrappage allowance helps the price if your car qualifies, and apart from the £1k from us Hyundai throw in £1.5k, making the Hyundai i30 ES a pretty cheap deal at just over £8k.

Hyundai reckons their enquiries have jumped 400% since the scrappage scheme was introduced, which is good news for them if the enquiries convert in to sales (which they have for Hyundai in Germany). To be fair, this is probably the only level at which the Scrappage scheme will have any sort of effect on sales. But still, if you have an old banger, and want a new car, you can’t really argue with just over £5k for a brand new set of wheels with a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty.

Even if you throw the i10 ES away after the warranty runs out, it will have cost you less than £20 a week. Probably less than it costs to keep an old banger running.