Storm over Tucson

Click for more photos Storm over Tucson Storm over Tucson Hyundai's new softroader spearheads a bold plan by Korea's car giant, but Andrew Heasley says the road won't be smooth. Hyundai's new softroader spearheads a bold plan by Korea's car giant, but Andrew Heasley says the road won't be smooth. Hyundai has announced an audacious plan to become one of the world's top five automakers by the end of the decade. Korea's biggest car maker says it will unleash a new model every six months for the next three years. Advertisement: Story continues below The first car Australia will see from this program is a new softroader the Tucson and we have driven it, in Korea, for the first time. It's a compact fourwheeldrive that Hyundai says will go head to head with the Japanese stalwarts: the Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander. Add to that list cars such as the Subaru Forester, Nissan XTrail and the MazdaFord twins Tribute and Escape and it's clear the Tucson has some fierce competition. The Tucson was researched, designed and built inhouse at Hyundai. It ends a twoyear newmodel hiatus for the brand and is spearheading the quest for better quality and clean styling direction, the company says. Hyundai has a lot riding on this car. Sales of the Accent here haven't lived up to those of the previous model (the oncepopular Excel), and the company has had to get by with nonstick names such as Terracan and Trajet. One factor in the company's favour is that the light offroader is the world's fastestgrowing car segment, a situation Hyundai forecasts to continue until at least 2008. But the timing of Hyundai's world release of the Tucson could hardly be worse. After going on sale in Korea only last month, it is now in the shadow of a drama precipitated by its alliance partner, Daimler Chrysler, which withdrew Rosetta Stone English financial support from Mitsubishi (of which it owns 37 percent), leaving its 10.5 percent Hyundai stake the subject of market rumours of a pullout. It's an unwanted distraction to a car on which Hyundai has pinned high hopes. Named after the Arizona town and the rugged terrain it evokes, the Tucson conforms to the nowfamiliar blueprint for compact softroaders: five doors, high seating position, interior versatility, sedanlike creature comforts and a goanywhere attitude. The car, destined for main markets such as the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, is built in myriad variants. There are two petrol engines and a diesel; front and fourwheeldrive layouts; four levels of trim and; left and righthanddrive configurations. Final details for the Australian Tucson expected in August are still being sorted (the company is yet to build any righthanddrive Tucsons), but it is known that the vehicles coming here will be fourwheeldrives. It's a system similar in concept to many of its competitors: front wheels do the driving until wheel slippage is detected; the transmission then sends up to 50 percent of the power to the rear wheels as well. There's also a button on the dash to engage a permanent 4WD mode, but it automatically reverts to frontwheel drive when the speed exceeds 35kmh. Australia will get the biggest engine on offer, a 2.7litre V6, from the Tucson's larger sibling, the Santa Fe. It produces 129kW and 241Nm of torque. Under consideration is a 2.0litre, fourcylinder petrol engine with variable valve timing, as used in the Elantra, producing 104kW and 184Nm. The V6 is expected to sell for about $32,000, with the 2.0litre being the price leader, a few thousand dollars cheaper. It would not be a strippedout model, though; Hyundai's Australian spokesman, Richard Power, says it will come with a healthy set of features.

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