Hyundai intends on building next-generation versions of the i10, i20, and i30 hatchbacks, despite the number of small cars on the market quickly shrinking.
While recently speaking with Autocar at the launch of the second-generation Kona, Hyundai’s European chief Michael Cole said that it doesn’t want to walk away from any particular customer group, especially in Europe where the current i10, i20, and i30 are popular.
“We’re strategizing now about what comes beneath [the] Kona long-term,” Cole said. “For now, [the] i10, i20, i30 are all still in our plan, even for the next generation. We’re looking at what we have. Exactly what we will have across those three lines, I can’t say today. I believe there’s a market below [the] Kona and maybe even in more traditional bodystyles, such as hatchback. It’s in our thinking, rather than necessarily in our long-term plan now, but for the European market, we have to be thinking about that.”
Read: Hyundai i30 N Hot Hatch May Not Survive For A Second-Generation But The Elantra N Should
If the i10, i20, and i30 all survive for at least one more generation, they will likely retain internal combustion power. However, this doesn’t mean the car manufacturer isn’t thinking about how it can make small EVs more affordable in the future. In fact, Cole can imagine the South Korean car manufacturer offering a small EV exclusively through a subscription program.
“I do believe monthly payments and even moving towards subscription-type scenarios will help,” he said. “I can see – and this is a personal view, not a corporate decision – a situation where we have a smaller EV that would just go onto subscription, and we keep the vehicle in a programme for five, six, seven years.”
