Hyundai goes super green at Frankfurt auto show

The 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show won’t start until September 17, but Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company is already establishing itself as the company with perhaps the boldest vision for a green car future. The list of Hyundai and Kia eco-models—one of the strongest hybrid showings in Frankfurt—provides mounting evidence that the company will deliver on promises to lead the world in fuel efficiency.

Vehicles with Hyundai and Kia badges on display in Frankfurt will include hybrid city cars, a hybrid crossover SUV concept, an all-electric city car, a plug-in hybrid, diesel vehicles with micro-hybrid stop-start technology, and mid-size lithium-battery-powered sedans running on liquid petroleum gas.

Last November, when we spoke with John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, he said, “We’re taking fuel efficiency higher and faster than any other carmaker. We’re going to pass Toyota and Honda by 2015.” He spoke like a man on a mission, promising that Hyundai Motor America will achieve a US fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2015, a year ahead of the timetable for new fuel economy regulations. The concepts on display in Frankfurt give some hints how Hyundai will achieve that goal, and reach its target of selling 500,000 hybrids annually by 2018.

In Frankfurt, Hyundai will debut the Hyundai ix Metro mild hybrid concept. The futuristic small car—not as big as Hyundai’s i20 hatchback but larger than the i10 minicar—is depicted by somewhat cartoony pre-show photos. But the concept points to engine downsizing as a key strategy. The car is powered by a 1.0-liter three-cylinder gas engine matched to a mild hybrid system to produce 123 horsepower. The ix Metro gets away with just one liter and three cylinders because the car is small—and through the use of direction injection, turbocharging, a small ultracapacitor, and the mild hybrid system.