European Car of the Year Short List with the 8 Finalists Revealed, Think You Can Pick the Winner?

After announcing the 34 nominees (38 if you include re-badged models like the Seat Toledo and Subaru BRZ) in late September, the organizing committee of the European edition of the Car of the Year award has now released the short list with the 8 finalists.

Normally, the short list includes 7 models, but due to the fact that two cars tied in the same position during the voting process, the committee increased the number of finalists to eight, just as it did in the 2007 edition of the award.

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Hyundai Confirms UK Pricing for New i30 3-Door Hatchback

The new generation of the Hyundai i30 3-door hatchback, which made its world premiere in September at the Paris Motor Show will go on sale in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2013 with prices starting from £13,995 OTR. Read more »

Hyundai UK Expands i30 Hatchback and Tourer Lineups with New Range Topping Premium Trim

The arrival of autumn has brought with it a new range topping Premium trim grade and three new exterior colors for the UK market Hyundai i30 hatchback and Tourer (estate / station wagon) models.

The Premium trim incorporates all the equipment contained previously within the optional Convenience and Individual packages (both of which have now been discarded) as standard along with several additional features on top of that for what Hyundai describes as a "relatively nominal increase in overall price".

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Parisian Poll: Which is the Better Looker, the Hyundai i30 3D or the Kia Pro_Cee'd?

South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia aren't leaving a lot of breathing space for Europe's troubled mainstream car manufactures, as they are relentlessly assaulting every popular category with new models.

At the 2012 edition of the Paris Motor Show, the Korean partners each introduced a three-door version of their respective C-segment compact hatchbacks.

The two models are the Hyundai i30 3d (the five-door version of which is sold as the Elantra GT in North America) and the Kia Pro_Cee'd, both of which offer a more aggressive design than their five-door counterparts.

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Hyundai Presents Thee-Door Hatchback Version of New i30 (Elantra GT)

Following in the footsteps of sister company Kia and its Pro_cee'd, Hyundai has also introduced a three-door variant of its own compact hatchback model, the i30, which is marketed in North America as the Elantra GT.

Hyundai points out that the i30 three-door was "designed, engineered and manufactured in Europe, for Europe", which means don't expect this body style to be added to the range of the Elantra GT.

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New Hyundai i30 Tourer Arrives in the UK in July Starting from £16,195

The estate version of the new Hyundai i30 compact model will go on sale in the UK on the 23rd of July with on-the-road prices starting from £16,195 for the entry-level 1.6-liter Classic and rising to £21,900 for the 1.6-liter CRDi Auto Style Nav.

The i30 Tourer is 185mm longer than its hatchback sibling and offers 150 litres of additional luggage space with the seats up and 326 litres with the seats down for a total capacity of 528 litres and 1,642 litres respectively.

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New BMW 3-Series, Hyundai i30, Mazda CX-5 and Peugeot 208 Shine in Euro NCAP Crash Tests

The new BMW 3-Series sedan, Hyundai i30 compact hatchback, Mazda CX-5 crossover and Peugeot 208 supermini are the latest cars to be evaluated by Euro NCAP, the organization charged with crash-testing Europe's vehicles.

All four models achieved a maximum five-star rating with Euro NCAP officials pointing out that carmakers have made significant improvements in the area of pedestrian protection.

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Hyundai gets into Some Monkey Business to Test the Quality of the New i30 Hatchback

While there are surely many ways to test the build quality of a car, you will have to admit that Hyundai's decision to let loose a horde of more than 40 playful monkeys on a new i30 hatchback, known as the 2013 Elantra GT in North America, has the added benefit of drawing a lot of attention from consumers.

In the first endurance test of the sort in Britain, Hyundai brought a silver i30 at the Knowsley Safari Park, which is home to several dozen baboons that are renowned for their love of destroying visitors’ cars, such as Wayne Rooney’s vehicle when he visited the Merseyside attraction last year.

Together with the park officials, Hyundai's people sat and watched more than 40 baboons having their way with the i30 hatch for 10 hours.

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Hyundai Defies European Economic Crisis, Records Best Ever First Quarter Sales

Whereas many carmakers are seeing their sales shrink in Europe due to the financial crisis, Hyundai managed to register a record number of new cars between January and March 2012 with 114,571 units. This represents an increase of 12.5 percent over the same period 12 months ago.

In contrast, the overall European new car market declined by 7.3 percent in the first quarter of the year. The Korean automaker now holds a 3.3 percent share of the market.

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