Hyundai
This is an intriguing one for me to cover, because I get to in a sense act as more of a journalist than the actual journalists who covered some of the 2012 newsworthy events.
Newsworthy 2012 events for this vehicle line broke down, essentially, into two primary stories. Notable to me, commentators missed a key element, as events progressed, in the second instance.
The first story involved some buzz and excitement about anticipated release of a redesigned 2013 edition Santa Fe.
While even towards year-end most reviewers hadn't actually test driven the updated Santa Fe, yet they anticipated that documented changes would improve both performance and comfort. One anticipated re-design aspect involves that the model, previously sold as a 5-seater, would now also offer a 7-seater edition.
Mileage delivery estimates for the updated Santa Fe call for approximately 21 miles per gallon city and 29 miles per gallon highway for the Sport, or 5-seater: quite reasonable fuel economy for an SUV category vehicle.
The other Hyundai line news during 2012 involved identification of testing flaws that resulted in fuel economy overstatement on most or all models of the Hyundai line, which includes Kia vehicles.
As commentators eventually pointed out, consumers seemed to clearly understand the discrepancy level. Some Hyundai models called for up to forty miles per gallon highway performance. Initially, commentators anticipated that because breaking the forty miles per gallon milestone is an important fuel economy breakthrough, a significant adverse affect on sales numbers and market share had probability.
However, the differential ranged from as little as one mile to as much as three miles per gallon for most models, depending how close to the forty mile per gallon estimate a particular model had ranked. The Kia Soul showed greatest discrepancy, at a 6 mile per gallon differential.
Even at thirty seven miles per gallon, a variation of only three miles per gallon seems somewhat insignificant and apparently most consumers agree. The testing flaws came to light during the summer, and by November Hyundai's sales figures had returned to projected or slightly higher than projected sales numbers.
The aspect of this story that commentators appear to me to have missed involves Hyundai's handling of the situation in terms of solid Public Relations practice.
Much like handling by Tylenol's manufacturer of tainted bottles of Tylenol some decades a go, Hyundai got pro-active. The company promptly admitted to testing flaws although as an honest error on its part. Hyundai also took corrective actions without waiting for Government to compel such actions. Instead, Hyundai management immediately began notifying the public it would take such measures as issuing gas cards to compensate Hyundai and Kia owners for costs associated with discrepancies between stated and actual mileage.
Such an approach demonstrates responsible corporate handling of a potentially more damaging situation, and good public relations policy. Yet, I ran across no reports even after the restored sales figures for December in which commentators made note of that point.
To discover more about what Hyunda vehicles offer, contact a nearby dealer such as Raleigh's Sport Durst Hyundai for the Raleigh-Durham area.
EPA finds Hyundai exaggerated fuel economy claims, refunds coming to customers, Consumer Reports, http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2012/11/epa-finds-hyundai-exaggerated-fuel-economy-claims-refunds-coming-to-customers.html
Hyundai, Kia to pay owners for overstated MPG, CNN Money, Peter Valdes-Dapena,
No comments:
Post a Comment