Report: Hyundai CEO says to expect larger family cars, no trucks
Hyundai’s line up is certainly growing, but according to CEO John Krafcik the size of its models will not be.
Most recently, Hyundai released two new variants for its 2012 North American Car of the Year pick, adding both a coupe and a 5-door hatchback for the Elantra. This puts the automaker in a good number of segments, but still leaves a sizeable gap.
“There’s major white space” says Krafcik. It’s probably fair to say we need more presence in the six and seven passenger crossover segment where the have the Veracruz now. I would say watch this space for more news on that white space.”
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After the Entourage minivan was dropped in 2009, Hyundai was left without much to accommodate a family apart from the Veracruz. The Veracruz, however, suffers from limited availability because the majority of the production space goes to the brand’s more popular cars.
The automaker says that the idea of building a large truck has been tossed around, but its American market focus, and growing success, is currently with fuel efficient models.
“We’re not a big truck player. I like to say brands define themselves as much by what they choose not to do as what they chose to do. We could be a truck player if we wanted to, we choose to focus on more fuel efficient segments of the market.”
– By: Alexandra Koken
Source: FOX
