New Hyundai i20 And ix25 SUV Delayed By Exchange Rates, Crash Test Issues

The current-generation 'PB' i20 will soldier on in Australia until at least the end of 2015, with no replacement apparent for Hyundai's ageing - yet still popular - light car.

That means it will likely be quite some time before we get Hyundai's all-new i20, which made its public debut at the Paris Motor Show in October last year and is already on sale in Europe.

"We will have the old one at least until the end of this year," said Hyundai Australia product planner Andrew Tuitahi to TMR.

"The replacement for that car is still undecided, it’s something that we’re frantically working on and a problem that’s really tough to solve."

The key barrier is an unfavourable exchange rate between the Australian dollar and the Euro. 

With the European-spec i20 (pictured) sourced exclusively from Hyundai's plant in Turkey, the business case for the new i20 doesn't stack up quite so well against the Indian-built older model.