Hyundai Motor on Thursday said it wants to sell 77,000 of its first dedicated petrol-electric hybrid model globally in 2017, 80% more than its total hybrid car sales in 2015, as it tries to meet emissions regulations in key markets.
The automaker expects the Ioniq to achieve a fuel efficiency of an estimated 57 miles per gallon in the US, edging out an estimated 52 mpg for Toyota Motor’s redesigned Prius, the world’s top-selling petrol hybrid which goes on sale there this month, Reuters reported.
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Hyundai has invested heavily to build a hybrid-only model to take on dominant Toyota.
Hyundai said it had built a tailor-made platform, engine and other key parts for the car, to help achieve a better fuel economy than the latest Prius.
“We are somewhat late to the market but we have been catching up very quickly,” Ryu Chang-sung, a director at Hyundai Motor, told Reuters.
The compact car, which was unveiled last week and launched in Korea on Thursday, will be rolled out in other markets like the US and China and Hyundai wants to sell 30,000 this year. Next year the target is 62,000 overseas and 15,000 at home, or about 80% higher than the 42,778 hybrid cars Hyundai sold in 2015.
Hyundai has so far launched hybrid variants of existing models like the Sonata and the Azera, but the 1.6-litre Ioniq is the first hybrid-exclusive car it has made from the start.
