Hyundai To Launch Hybrid Without Government Won

Washington DC June 17, 2008; The AIADA newsletter reported that Hyundai Motor Co. plans to launch a hybrid electric version of the Elantra sedan next year, and will do so on its own.

Some media reports this week closely linked Korean government efforts and financial support in lithium battery research to Hyundai's hybrid, but Hyundai says that's not the case. "We don't get any subsidies to that effect," Hyundai spokesman Oles Gadacz told Automotive News.

Hyundai plans to launch the hybrid Elantra in Korea, where the small car is known as the Avante. Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo told South Korea's new President Lee Myung-bak in March that Hyundai plans to begin producing hybrid electric vehicles in 2009.

Other company-supplied information on Hyundai's hybrid r&d program indicates the automaker does not expect strong sales soon. Hyundai tentatively predicts hybrid electric vehicle sales of at least 50,000 in 2011, but only if it has launched hybrid electric vehicles in the United States by then.

The automaker cites a lack of local tax benefits for purchasing hybrids as a barrier to its hybrid development program. But Hyundai expects the tax situation to change next year.