Hyundai Soft-Pedals 2012 "Prius-Killer" Plug-In Promise

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Ask the good folks from Hybridcars.com what today’s big news was, and they’d probably point to their own scoop, titled Hyundai Has Prius-Killer in the Works. It can be hard for blogs to get OEM reps on the phone, and Hyundai’s product public relations manager Miles Johnson walked an enticingly vague line:

We are studying a dedicated Prius-fighter vehicle, meaning a hybrid-specific nameplate that isn’t based off a Sonata or a Santa Fe. It’s its own thing. We’ve also been studying plug-in hybrid technology, which is a bit farther out for us, but the near-term would be a Prius-sized vehicle… You can look at the dimensions of the Blue Will concept and see it would be a similar package and size to a Prius.

With Hyundai launching its first US-market hybrid, the Sonata, later this year, this is yet another sign of the big H’s relentless momentum, right? Well, not exactly…

What Hybridcars (among other “green car” sites) missed is that their scoop wasn’t really a scoop at all. Last Summer, shortly after the Blue-Will plug-in concept (pictured above) debuted, Hyundai-Kia global R&D boss Yang Woong-chul proclaimed to Automotive News [sub]:

We want to be the leader in fuel economy and alternative fuels. We want to show our technology and improve our image, not necessarily make money on hybrids… We want to get people to drive our cars. We need to get people to the dealerships… We’re going after Prius and the Volt with the plug-in,

AN [sub]’s headline for that piece? Hyundai plans sporty plug-in for U.S. by ’12. The industry paper even listed technical specs for the Blue-Will concept, then posing as a 2012 plug-in “Prius-Killer,” noting:

The concept has a wheelbase of 106.3 inches and is 169.3 inches long. Hyundai says the Blue-Will will get an estimated 50 to 55 mpg in the hybrid-electric mode. It can travel about 38 miles in electric-only mode.

Unfortunately, reality was undaunted by Hyundai’s fearsome combination of specs on paper, a funky concept and a stated goal. Johnson explains that Chevy Volt school of green-car design (marketing, specs and desire for “green car leadership” at all costs first, actual design second) is like, really hard.

A hybrid vehicle usually takes double the time of a standard production car, and a plug-in even more than that. Think about how long GM has been spending on the Chevy Volt. It doesn’t happen overnight, but we’ve got some good partners with LG Chem on the batteries. We have a lot of engineers working quietly behind the scenes. We’re really moving as fast as we can.

Is there a better way to code-signal the frustrations of plug-in development than comparing your project to the Volt? No wonder Hyundai is now talking up a dedicated hybrid model while pushing the once-hyped plug-in into the future. Or, as Hybridcars.com puts itAlthough the date for the Blue Will plug-in hybrid could easily slip into 2013 or later, the implication is that a new Hyundai hybrid-only model could go into production in the next two years.In case you’re still keeping track, the first part of that sentence is where the actual news is. And by the time Hyundai’s non-plug-in “Prius Killer” arrives in 2012, a plug-in version of the Prius will likely be available, as will the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf and, if you believe the hype, EVs from countless other independents. Well-heeled early adopters, whipped into a frenzy by sites like hybridcars.com, will have already generated the most profitable EV sales for other firms by the time Hyundai actually gets its 2013-and-counting plug-in to market.Ultimately though, backing away from a plug-in probably makes a lot of sense for Hyundai. Woong-chul’s “improve our image, not necessarily make money” line smacks of weak strategy, especially considering Hyundai managed to capture the EPA’s top spot for fleet fuel economy before it ever offered a hybrid for sale here. News from last week’s SAE Congress [via AN [sub]] that Hyundai-Kia will equip “most” of its vehicles with start-stop systems by 2012 (for a claimed 3 percent fleet-wide efficiency improvement) seems like a far batter use of the company’s resources than a rushed plug-in halo car.



Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Rod Panhard Rod Panhard on Apr 21, 2010

    The advent of whale-influenced design keeps me up at night. For the handful of us heritage whalers (row like hell, harpoon like hell, hang on for the ride) and purveyors of artisanal whale-derived products, this could boost our business. Good times ahead!

  • Tricky Dicky Tricky Dicky on Apr 22, 2010

    Sorry - it's the fish-friendly Shark with the Aussie accent from Finding Nemo: "Hello, my name is Bruce...." Do Hyundai have any ideas of their own?

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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