New York show: Hyundai opens a new Venue
BY RON HAMMERTON | 27th Mar 2019
HYUNDAI has confirmed that its upcoming mini SUV codenamed QX will be called Venue when it breaks cover at the annual New York motor show next month.
The sub-Kona vehicle has been given the tick for Australia where the Venue badge was trademarked last month, alongside another name: Encino.
But while Venue is a certainty for this market, the Chinese-market, Kona-based Hyundai Encino is a not a starter here, according to Hyundai Motor Company Australia marketing director Bill Thomas.
Such trademarks are regularly applied globally to protect them from encroachment, just in case they might be needed for wider application at a later time.
As GoAuto has reported, the Venue is being put through its final ride and handling tuning paces in Australia, preparing it for local roads and customer tastes.
The baby SUV will give Hyundai customers a crossover alternative to the Accent light hatchback, as the Kona does to the i30 and Elantra in the one-size-larger small-car segment.
Few details of the new model have emerged, but a teaser video released by Hyundai to announce the New York reveal on April 17 shows glimpses of the tailgate badge and grille.
The company plans to use “augmented reality” technology to spice up the reveal at the show, with the event being beamed over the internet.
Most pundits expect the Venue to be based on the Accent, thus becoming a second entry point to the Hyundai range.
The choice of Venue as a name initially appears to break with Hyundai’s tradition of naming its SUVs after place names such as Tucson, Santa Fe and Kona.
Hyundai claims Venue will be “a place where people will want to seen, in this case inside the vehicle”.
“The Venue symbolises a trendy, unique style, perfect for Hyundai’s newest and smallest SUV,” the guff continues.
An image of young people playing guitars and dancing at what could be a rooftop bar gives an indication of the target market, as does an image of a busy and colourful street market at night – “the place to be”.
In the US, such small vehicles are frequently bought by parents for their college-aged children, hence the pitch to young people.
In Australia, the Venue will be lumped in the small SUV class alongside its own stablemate, the Kona, and the class leading Mitsubishi ASX and Mazda CX-3, but it will really compete against one-sized smaller vehicles such as the Korean-built Holden Trax and Suzuki Ignis, which are essentially light SUVs.
