Is Hyundai lying about it's sales figures too?

[amit]

We all know Hyundai lies about the BHP figures of it's engines. In fact, Hyundai USA even got sued for it. BUt i have a strong feeeling that this korean company is lying away to glory to us Indians about it's sales figures to impress us!
This is the reason why.
Hyundai says that the Santro sales in India are constrained due to heavy demand for it's Atoz Prime (Santro Xing) in Europe. Now which countries come to your mind when you hear Europe? obviously its germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden etc. i.e. Western Europe. They also say that the Getz is their largest selling model in Europe, something to the effect that the Getz has actually taken europe by storm. Well, its all hog wash i say. and this is why.
I was in Europe for 2 months i.e. May & June and I barely say any Atoz Prime and Getz cars there. Hyundai sells 2 xing shaped cars there : Hyundai AToz prime and Kia Picanto. I counted about 4 Atoz prime with great difficulty and even lesser Picanto's. What about their best selling Getz? I counted, hold your breath, just 2! And this is in about 5 countries in Europe!!!!! So where are the cars going? My guess is in Eastern Europe where the market is similar to India's and i m sure even there we will find about 10 atoz prime as compared to 4 in western europe. And oh ya, there was not a single Accent and just 1 Sonata which i saw in Salzburg, Austria which was a taxi. Nothing wrong with that because i also saw a Skoda Superb taxi there!
So when will Hyundai stop lying about everything and anything and try to show themselves as a hot selling car company?

[ajmat]

You can get a new Getz 1.1 basic spec for around 5500 pounds now (4.4 lakhs). If they are discounted then they are getting desperate. Main Hyundai markets are Korea, India and Malaysia. The Kia Picanto is supposedto be doing well though

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]You can get a new Getz 1.1 basic spec for around 5500 pounds now (4.4 lakhs).

So that means it retails for less than the Tata Indica a.k.a. Rover City? No wonder Rover aint selling any.

Amit, I am totally with you on your topic. Hyundai has been flamed all over for misguiding on sales figures, power claims....and manipulation through advertising.

GTO

[drayaz]

well i live in uk & believe me hyundai doesnt sell much cars in here.
well getz is getting decent response from buyers,by decent i mean few people do buy it as compared to other hyudai products but no takers for atoz(santro)in fact its not in production since 2000.
top gear has got atoz in the category of cars "should never be made".
the only car doing well for them is hyundai coupe.

[satish_appasani]

Hyundai is doing decent business in US.

We see good number of Sonatas, Elantras, Accents, Santa Fe and very few Tiburons.

Probably weaker economy in US is helping Hyundai

[speedzak]

Hyundai is the worst thing to happen to the car industry!
They've taken us indians for a ride and what a pity? We just fell for it!

Believe me : I was in South africa and the poor africans also think twice before going for a hyundai. Only due to their financial crisis they buy a Hyundai.
They do all these types of lying and cheating there too.
And when it comes to quality of their cars, they speak they're better than a Merc!

[speedbuster]

Originally Posted by amit

We all know Hyundai lies about the BHP figures of it's engines.

Most ppl on this forum believe that Accent's claimed power figure, 94bhp is nowhr near close to the performance it delivers.

But my question is, how can the top speed of Accent 1.5 be 171-174kmph if its power was not 94bhp??(top speed tested by OD and Autocar)

Crossing 170kmph, really near power above 90bhp.

Its top end is similar to
Ikon 1.6=171kmph(92bhp)
OHC 1.5=175kmph (100bhp)
Baleno=175kmph(91bhp)
Ikon flair 1.3= 148kmph.(70bhp)

So why do you guys think claimed 94bhp is fake????????
What is really important is, how the power is developed...
In accent, power is not felt below 2.5k rpm, thats why it feels bit underpowered, but hit the pedel to the metal, and see what it does.

[durvasa]

Why do I sense a streak of anti-Hyundai sentiments on this forum??
There are so many posts on how Hyundai cheats in Advts, BHP figures, design copycats, quality etc; not just on this thread but at many other places on TBHP!

I am no Hyundai lover and am sure it cuts corners to keep prices down. But think about it!!

is Hyundai worse then GM or Ford that kept making ugly, outdated, fuel guzzlers throughout the last decade? Or is Hyundai worse then Skoda, which till they got VW tech, they were worse than Hindustan Motors? Or is Hyundai worse then Peugeot, which got the ugliest possible cars in Indiaat the highest possible prices with worst possible A.S.S. and got their A.S.S kicked? Can you say Hyundai is worse then Jaguar(UK), which made great looking cars with Ambassador quality?? Or how about Rover (may it RIP)??

Ok, let me give you more concrete proof

Please check where GM, Fiat, Ford was 20 years back in terms of sales volume, and profit. And where they are now?? Dead and almost buried !!

Now check where Hyundai was 20 years back and, where it is now??

Of course, Hyundai is still not BMW, Merc, Lexus or even basic Toyota, but it is slowing getting there. OTOH, brands like are Fiat, GM, Ford, Peugeot are moving fast (with paddle pressed to the floor) towards oblivion.

[durvasa]

Reason why you don't see Hyundai in Europe and US. because they are relatively new entrant in the market so even if they are growing in sales and market share the total population of Hyundai still remains low.

As seen in this report. Hyundai is selling more cars in US than many other known brands.
http://wardsauto.com/keydata/USSalesSummary0603.xls

Look at the second sheet mentioning sales of cars in US by brand and also the third sheet for top 10 brands, with Sonata coming at 10th most sold car. I don't see any Skoda or even VW there. And US is not even the main market for Hyundai.

Agreed that Hyundai is basically a price warrior but still Hyundai must be having a minimum quality that Fiat, VW or even GM finds difficult to meet at the said price level.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by amit

BUt i have a strong feeeling that this korean company is lying away to glory to us Indians about it's sales figures to impress us!

Wouldnt that be shooting themselves in the foot when the tax collector showed up??

Originally Posted by durvasa

There are so many posts on how Hyundai cheats in Advts, BHP figures, design copycats, quality etc; not just on this thread but at many other places on TBHP!

That is true, but some of their claims in their ads are a bit ridiculous, so it is not completely unwarranted. (Do a search for Hyundai in "The Indian Car Scene" section and you will see just how many instances there are of their advertising tactics.)

But, in that search you will also find threads like these -
Are our opinions about Hyundai changing?
and
Why Hyundai is fantastic....watch out! (Why Hyundai is Fantastic...watch out)

cya
R

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Wouldnt that be shooting themselves in the foot when the tax collector showed up??

The tax collector will go by the accounting books, not by advertising claims. Besides, they are talking about sales/income in a different country.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The tax collector will go by the accounting books, not by advertising claims. Besides, they are talking about sales/income in a different country.

Good points!

cya
R

[durvasa]

Rehaan

I understand. My mail was in response to too many recent posts and threads on hyundai criticism as such.

And I know (in both US and India) the cooked-up ads of Hyundai where they have fake (or highly biased) comparisons with otherwise much superior cars. That's the risk of dealing with an aggressive upstart that 'thinks'that it has good product, low price but no brand.

Companies can inflate sales figures for 1-2 months but it is difficult to do so for longer period, mainly because, rivals would easily deduce the correct sales from customs/excise/field data and contest the inflated claim. Most Auto companies give sales details are model and region levels.

I think that Tata and M&M are probably 12-15 years behind Hyundai in terms of technology and product range. People are going to treat Indian upstarts too in the same way as they used to treat Toyota/Honda 30-35 years back and Koreans in the last decade and even now. Not all upstarts will survive, some like Daewoo would fall by the wayside despite having probably better designs and technology than hyundai 8-10 years back. Its all part of auto evolution cycle.

[devarshi84]

the only Hatchbacks I know selling well in Europe are fiat, renault, Honda, mitsubishi, volkwagen, peugot and ford

I hardly saw a hyundai accent in 2002. Even the only suzuki's I saw then were an esteem and a baleno.

How about trying to find out which are the top 5 best sellers in Europe?

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The tax collector will go by the accounting books, not by advertising claims. Besides, they are talking about sales/income in a different country.

Well... actually there could be another angle to this thing. In india they get special tariffs and tax holidays against exports. This they also use for imports at concessional rates. Now if they forge their books and show higher exports they can actually benefit from the whole farce. Of course they may shoot themselves on their foot as Rehaan said but only if the inflated export thing, if they are actually doing it, gets caught. But then looking at what is happening to them in their own country all of a sudden I am inclined to believe that Hyundai is not very averse to using such unlawful tactics to push the envelope.