2015 Hyundai Tucson to move from small to medium SUV segment
The 2015 Hyundai Tucson will shift up from the small SUV segment to the medium segment when it goes on sale later this year.
The car it replaces, the Hyundai ix35, has been a significantly important vehicle for the South Korean brand - globally as well as locally - and it has been a high-seller in the small SUV segment where it has sat as part of the VFACTS official sales numbers.
Since 2010 - when it replaced the old Tucson - the ix35 has been an unmitigated success story in Australia. That year saw 7202 ix35s sold, 11,487 left dealers in 2011, while 11,469, 19,098 and 17,922 were sold in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. Hyundai has already sold 1636 ix35s for the current year to date.
The ix35's designation as small SUV has meant the brand has been able to claim it was the best-seller in its segment, despite being closer in size to larger SUVs such as the Toyota RAV4 than smaller SUVs such as the Holden Trax.
“With the release of the new TL Tucson, what was previously known as the ix35 in Australia will be bigger,” explains Hyundai Australia public relations manager, Bill Thomas. “That will put the new vehicle into Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5 territory officially.”
The ix35 has made serious inroads in the small SUV segment since 2010. It’s market share has been 25.1%, 28.7%, 18.8%, 25.5% and 20.5% from 2010 to 2014. And 2015 looks like being another strong year for the ix35, with a market share of 22.5% year to date.
Thomas went on to emphasise the importance of the ix35 to the overall Hyundai portfolio in Australia.
“It is our second biggest seller after the i30,” he said.