Hyundai WRC 2006

No rallying for 2 years as Hyundai regroup for major offensive

By PH Staff / Thursday, 16 October 2003 / Loading comments

Hyundai has announced that it won't be rejoining the World Rally Championship until 2006, when it will enter with a new car and in-house rally team.

As part of the reorganisation, the company will establish a new World Rally Team headquarters at its Design and Technical Centre in Russelsheim, Germany and will begin recruitment of top talent to strengthen the team’s engineering capabilities.

In the run up to 2006, Hyundai will be concentrating on the development of its all-new Theta engine and new three-door hatchback codenamed RC. The company will then re-enter the World Rally Championship mid-way through 2006, and compete in the whole of the 2007 season and beyond.

Harry Choi, Global Marketing and Communications Senior Executive Vice President, said: "We’re competitors at heart and rallying has always been an integral part of our plans to grow the Hyundai brand . This withdrawal is temporary but absolutely mandatory in order for us to reorganise and rethink our entire approach. But we will be back in fighting form with a completely new engine and car ."

The two year break will be used to intensify development work on the new powertrain, and build up additional resources to revitalise the WRC programme.

Mr Choi added that motorsport has been an effective tool for raising Hyundai’s brand awareness and promoting the quality of its products. But if the company is to expand its product portfolio to include performance cars, winning on the race track is absolutely vital to the marketing success of those future products.

Hyundai’s rally support team, currently based at the Namyang R+D Centre in Korea, will also relocate to Russelsheim as part of the effort to integrate all motorsport development activities in-house.