The day has finally come that the first Hyundai equipped with standard XM Satellite Radio is rolled out of the factory. An all-new 2007 Santa Fe, with XM Radio standard, was produced today at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) in Montgomery.
XM Satellite Radio and Hyundai announced a deal back in March 2005 to include XM as standard equipment in all Hyundai models. It has begun.
The Santa Fe is the first of four Hyundai models to add XM Satellite Radio as a standard feature to all audio systems this year. Others include the 2007 Sonata, Azera and Elantra.
Every new XM-equipped Hyundai also comes with a 3-month trial subscription. In 2005, Hyundai's U.S. sales reached 455,012 units.
Weren't all 2007 Hyundais supposed to have XM standard?
WTF happened there? I'm pretty sure I remember that when the Hyundai announcement was made. Anyone know?
Westfall
Yes and I'm not sure if anything has changed. The roll-out was supposed to start in 2006, with 75% of Hyundai's sales volume being XM-equipped by EoY. The remaining units will roll-out shortly after that in 2007.
I don't know exact sales figured, but I assume that the Santa Fe, Sonata, Azera and Elantra represent the lionshare of U.S. sales.
OEMs are notoriously slow to adopt, so it's no surprise if things are a bit behind schedule.
Here's a link with the news article from 2005. Looks like they are about a year behind where they said they would be... XM is such a pushover sometimes...
http://news.com.com/Hyundai+to+fit+XM+Satellite+in+all+models/2100-1041_3-5631470.html
You guys are so misinformed.
Read the article. This is the beggining of the rollout.
All 2007 Hyuandai's will have XM standard. That's about 500k gross adds for XM.
Not to mention that both Hyandai and Acura now both come STANDARD with XM installed.
I stand corrected if I misread the news article, but this says there will be 4 models with XM standard. Their website lists 8 different vehicle models. Either they don't have 2007 model years or else they weren't standard on them. I suspect the latter. Especially since their website shows a 2007 Accent that is not shown to have XM standard in the article.
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/lineup/type.aspx
Accent is an entry level vehicle, probably not of financial interest to them.
Hyundai releases model years a little different than other companies do. This is probably why there's so much confusion.
--D