I30 hatchback tows Hyundai Europe sales

More than 500,000 units of Hyundai Motor Co.’s compact hatchback i30 have been sold since its launch in July 2007, the company said on Friday.


The i30 is the company’s first vehicle designed specifically for overseas markets to break cumulative sales figure of 500,000.

The car is designed to target European markets, and is currently being produced in Korea, China and the Czech Republic. Of the about 510,000 units of the vehicle sold worldwide, more than 86 percent were sold outside of Korea.

Hyundai Europe vice president Allan Rushforth said in a statement that the company will keep making improvements to the i30 in order to further increase the vehicle’s sales in the European market.

With the i30, Hyundai appears to have hit the right chord with European motorists.

According to Hyundai, the i30 came out on top in the customer satisfaction survey conducted by the U.K.-based automotive publication Auto Express. The survey asked 23,000 U.K. motorists questions on a number of categories including reliability, quality and fuel economy to rank vehicles.

The i30, the first Korean vehicle to top the list, was followed by the Jaguar XF and the Skoda Octovia in this year’s survey.

Aided by the popularity of the i30 and the other i-series vehicles -- the i10 and i20 – Hyundai’s monthly sales in the United Kingdom rose to a record high of 15,429 units in March, the company said.

In addition to the U.K. market, Hyundai has been performing well in the wider European market so far this year.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, Hyundai’s first quarter sales in the European Union and in the countries belonging to the European Free Trade Association increased by 24.2 percent from the same period last year.

With the increase, the carmaker sold about 100,800 units in that market, raising its market share to 2.7 percent from the 2.4 percent recorded for the same period last year.

Along with Hyundai, its sister carmaker Kia Motors Corp. saw its sales for the first three months of the year increase by a slightly higher rate of 25.9 percent over the same period.

The sales increase rates recorded by Hyundai and Kia are respectively the sixth and the fifth highest they have recorded.

Renault Group’s Dacia brand took the top spot in terms of sales increase rate, 59.1 percent, followed by Land Rover, the first quarter sales of which rose by 42.3 percent from a year earlier.