Lord, I Was Born A Ramblin Van

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Is Hyundai making a play for the commercial van market in North America? Automotive News seems to think so.

These spyshots (from AutoGuide.com) show Hyundai testing a new large commercial van somewhere in Europe, whereas AN caught it testing in California. Either way, it’s clear that Hyundai wants in on the action that the Sprinter, Ram ProMaster and Ford Transit are eagerly targeting.



Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Petezeiss Petezeiss on Jul 23, 2014

    It's utterly charming that they decided this box needed camo.

    • See 2 previous
    • Drzhivago138 Drzhivago138 on Jul 23, 2014

      @Sutures It's a two-headed gila monster. One head is playing a clarinet rendition of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," the other is engaging in a spirited match of chess boxing with its own shadow.

  • Johannes Dutch Johannes Dutch on Jul 23, 2014

    This is what I've just read about this new Hyundai: -Developed in cooperation with German partners. -GVW 7,700 to 11,000 lbs. -Introduction at the IAA Hannover in Germany. -Production in Turkey. Given its size and GVW I guess it will have a circa 3.0 liter diesel, just like its competitors. It's much bigger than a Ram ProMaster~Fiat Ducato by the way, it's more an Iveco Daily, the Ram's~Fiat's bigger brother.

    • Th009 Th009 on Jul 23, 2014

      In other words, about the same size as a Sprinter.

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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