Hats off to Hyundai's Getz

The Hyundai Getz hatchback has been restyled inside and out by the carmaker's German design studio.

Hyundai's upgraded Getz hatchback offers more powerful engines, more safety features, and new styling inside and out from Hyundai's German design studio.

The small five-door has been one of the success stories on the New Zealand market in recent years and the Korean carmaker expects the facelift to trade on the reputation of the previous model. Along with 1.4 and 1.6-litre engines, Getz gets anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes as a standard feature, plus electronic brakeforce distribution.

Inside, dual front and side airbags are standard, as are front seatbelt pretensioners and load limiters which give the seatbelts top efficiency under emergency braking. The Getz also gets an MP3 compatible CD player with six-speaker sound and steering wheel-mounted audio controls.

Hyundai sees its Getz as essential to the company's rise through the global ranks, extending the reputation of a car which has already sold more than 550,000 across the world since its launch in 2002.

"The Getz is an icon model for New Zealand and we are delighted to have been able to specify particular features our market wants," says Hyundai Automotive managing director NZ said Philip Eustace.

"We stay close to our market and this car reflects that.

"It embodies the quality and reliability for which Hyundai is now widely respected, in a desirable little package that really turns heads."

The Getz starts at $19,990 for the 1.4-litre five-speed manual through to the 1.6-litre automatic at $22,990. Hyundai says the engines improve on the previous model's economy at 6.1 litres/100km for the 1.4 manual, 7 litres/100km for the 1.4-litre automatic, and 7.1 litres/100km for the 1.6-litre automatic.

Eustace says: "We expect big things from this car, and so can its owners."