Press. voanews.com
Hyundai Motor plans to launch a pickup truck in the United States as
part of a broader plan to catch up with a shift away from sedans in one of the
Korean automaker's most important markets, a senior company executive told
Reuters. Michael J. O’Brien, vice president of corporate and product planning at
Hyundai's U.S. unit, told Reuters that Hyundai's top management has given the
green light for development of a pickup truck similar to a show vehicle called
the Santa Cruz that U.S. Hyundai executives unveiled in 2015.
Hyundai currently does not offer a pickup truck in the United States.
O'Brien said Hyundai plans to launch a small SUV called the Kona in the United
States later this year. People familiar with the automaker's plans said
separately that Hyundai plans to launch three other new or refreshed SUVs by
2020. So-called crossovers — sport utilities built on chassis similar to
sedans — now account for about 30 percent of total light vehicle sales in the
United States. Consumers in China, the world's largest auto market, are also
substituting car-based SUVs for sedans.
People familiar with Hyundai's plans said the company plans to roll out
a new version of its Santa Fe Sport mid-sized SUV next year, followed by an
all-new 7-passegner crossover which will replace a current three-row Santa Fe
in early 2019 in the United Sates. A redesigned Tucson SUV is expected in 2020,
people familiar with Hyundai's plans said.
Hyundai's U.S. dealers have pushed the company to invest more
aggressively in SUVs and trucks as demand for sedans such as the midsize Sonata
and the smaller Elantra has waned. “We are optimistic about the future,"
Scott Fink, chief executive of Hyundai of New Port Richey, Florida, which is
Hyundai's biggest U.S. dealer, said. "But we are disappointed that we
don't have the products today."
Hyundai's U.S. sales are down nearly 11 percent this year through July
31, worse than the overall 2.9-percent decline in U.S. car and light truck
sales. Sales of the Sonata, once a pillar of Hyundai's U.S. franchise, have
fallen 30 percent through the first seven months of 2017. In contrast, sales of
Hyundai's current SUV lineup are up 11 percent for the first seven months of
this year. "Our glasses are fairly clean," O'Brien said. "We
understand where we have a shortfall."