It really Getz you going

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Ask Hyundai general manager Phillip Eustace how the Getz got its name and he says. "Don't know. The Koreans came up with it. But it gets you going, doesn't it?"

Eustace has a whole bunch of similar one-liners based around the advertising catchline, "Getz you thinking."

There is:

* Getz clever.

* Getz power.

* Getz protection.

* Getz noticed.

* Getz bigger.

* Getz the credit.

They are part of a $2 million advertising campaign Hyundai Automotive New Zealand is doing with agency Singleton, Ogilvy and Mather for its latest model. In Korea, the Getz is called the "Click". Enough said.

But there are perhaps more appropriate plays on "Getz". How about "Getzmart" and "Getzmoving"? Or "Getzahead"and "Getzgoing"? That's what Eustace and his team will have to do to turn around the slump in sales over the past few years.

The four-model $17,990-$20,990 Getz is expected to be Hyundai's saviour. It goes on sale this week but won't arrive en masse until December. Eustace is forecasting between 500 and 600 sales next year in a small-car segment with "huge" growth potential.

Support for such a forecast is found in the sales success over the past couple of months of the Honda Jazz, a Getz competitor.

Once, Hyundai had 6 per cent of the passenger car market in New Zealand. Its best month on record was September 1997, when it sold 445 vehicles. It was discounting heavily back then. Last month, exactly five years on, it sold 181. It is still discounting.

Its best year was in 1998, with more than 4000 sales, among them 600 rental cars. Nine months into this year it had sold 1194 vehicles - 985 cars and 209 commercials - for an overall share of 1.9 per cent. Rental companies have bought only 50 cars.

What has gone wrong? Critically, the Lantra station wagon, especially popular with fleet and rental companies, was discontinued.

"We were hit hard with the loss of the Lantra," said Eustace. "To get any volume in New Zealand you have to be in the rental car market."

Ongoing industrial strife at the factory in Korea didn't help either. Nor did currency fluctuations, which made some models, like the Atoz, too expensive. Used imports and cheaper new cars from rival Koreans and mainstream Japanese and European makers also ate into Hyundai's share.

Eustace and a HANZ team headed by executive director Richard Giltrap went to Korea a few months ago to sort out Hyundai's future here.

The result is what they call the "winds of change". There are new financial commitments, new synergies, new budgets, new dealerships and new marketing strategies.

The upshot, says Eustace, is that "Hyundai Motor Corporation has empowered us to do better in the New Zealand market". New Zealand will now get the same models as Australia, under a head office rationalisation programme.

The Getz was penned at Hyundai's design studio in Frankfurt, Germany. Hyundai wants it to compete with the Toyota Echo, Honda Jazz and Holden Barina. It is roughly the same length and width as the Barina, but has a higher roofline and offers a roomy, versatile interior.

Four GL and FX models - three- and five-door - will be available, each powered by the 12-valve 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine from the Accent, developing 60kW at 5800rpm and 116Nm of torque at 3200rpm and mated to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox.

All four have the same overall dimensions and wheelbase - and share 60-40 split-folding rear seats for a flat load area. The seats also tumble forward.

There are plenty of pockets, and front passengers have three cupholders, one of which doubles as a removable ashtray. The front seatbelt mounts on the door pillar are height-adjustable and there are three child-restraint anchors in the back.

Brakes are front discs and rear drums. Equipment includes dual airbags, electric windows, CD player, air-conditioning, electric mirrors and optional anti-lock brakes.

"The Getz spearheads challenges - new territory in terms of what we are doing," says Giltrap. "It's going to be a lot of hard work, but the quality of the [Hyundai] product today is truly outstanding."

* Hyundai also unveiled the V6 Tiburon, the Coupe replacement, priced at $44,990 and $45,500, and the four-wheel-drive Terracan, at $48,990.