Hyundai i40 Estate debuts in production-ready guise at Geneva
It seems that despite telling Cars UK that the i-Flow Concept-based i40 Estate is a Europe-only car, Hyundai has now decided to launch it in Australia.
The gestation of the replacement for the Hyundai Sonata – The Hyundai i40 / Hyundai i45 / Hyundai Sonata – has been a complicated affair as Hyundai have seen fit to produce different cars for different parts of the world. Or so we thought.
Just over a year ago we had a conversation with Hyundai to try and clear things up a bit. They told us that the i40 and Sonata that had already been revealed in Asia and the US – and the i45 in Australia – were designed for those markets and, although based on the same platform, would not come to the UK and Europe.
Instead, the UK and Europe were to get their own version of the i40, based on the Hyundai i-Flow concept. Which has now arrived in the shape of the Hyundai i40 Estate. All clear so far.
But now we hear from Car Advice in Oz that the European Hyundai i40 Estate is to go to Australia, although they already have their own version – albeit not an Estate – in the Hyundai i45. Confusing.
Does that mean that there won’t be an Estate version of the Sonata/i40/i45 for the Australian/Asian/US markets? Will they instead get the European i40 Estate?
And what happens when the UK and Europe get the saloon version of the European i40 later this year? Will that too go to Australia – or anywhere else – as the i40 ‘Sport’? Colour us completely confused by this plan.
We’ve asked Hyundai. If they know what they’re doing we’ll let you know.
Jamie Pickles says
I think it is good that the i40 Tourer is avaiable in Australia