Hyundai will not be bringing its three-door Veloster to South Africa in 2012. After our report a few weeks ago that the launch would be happening in October, SA Car Fan got word of the news at last week’s local Hyundai i20 facelift launch, that it has indeed been pushed back to 2013.
Hyundai’s much anticipated competitor to the Renault Megane Coupê, Opel Astra GTC, Honda CR-Z, Peugoet RCZ, Volkswagen Scirocco competitor, will not be arriving in South Africa at least until the first quarter of 2013, due to delays surrounding South Africa’s fuel quality. Hyundai are unwilling to launch the Veloster without the inclusion of the new 1.6-litre Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine in the line-up and South Korea are unwilling to launch the engine in South Africa without firm guarantees that the fuel quality is up to snuff and no unnecessary warranty claims will result.
The news is even more frustrating considering that a turbocharged version of the same 1.6-litre GDI engine has just made its debut in the Veloster overseas, as has a new dual-clutch automatic transmission. If the bungling and delays surrounding the 1.6 GDI engine are anything to go by, don’t bank on the turbo engine or dual-clutch transmission ever reliably arriving in South Africa. Welcoming the new GDI in the Veloster, in October, would have been a significant and hi-tech stepping stone in Hyundai’s product onslaught into South Africa.
For what it’s worth, we think South Korea should take a chill pill on their warranty claim concerns and cut our local distributors some slack. Audi FSI, Volkswagen TSI, BMW TwinPower and Mercedes-Benz equivalents seem to be functioning just fine locally. Should South Africa ever convince Hyundai HQ of the durability of our fuel, the 1.6-litre four-cylinder GDI will debut producing 102 kW and 166 Nm, consuming a claimed figure of 7.2 L/100km and emitting 142 g/km of CO2; the normally aspirated unit would be capable of sprinting the Veloster from 0 – 100 km/h in less than 9.0 seconds.
