When I first saw this Hyundai Atos come past us as we were walking home on a dull and dreary evening , it instantly brought back happy memories of a place I wouldn’t mind being right now: sunny Yucatan. The tall, boxy and tiny-wheeled Atos is probably the most popular entry-level car there, or at least it seemed that way. And how exactly did one find its way to Eugene? Coming to take me away?
Well, catching a car on foot isn’t always successful, but I’ve learned it’s worth trying, especially in downtown. We turned the corner, and sure enough there it was, in front of the county courthouse. When it first went by, I thought it had Oregon plates, but when we caught up with it, those turned out to be from Jalisco. No wonder it looks bleary. Or maybe it has something to do with my keeping the flash off in my camera.
It looks much happier and bright-eyed here. Except for Europe, where it was replaced with the newer i10, the Atos has generally preferred warm and sunny climes, where it became a mainstay city-entry level car. These tall-boys are remarkably roomy, given their short length and narrowness.
The Atos appeared in 1997, in this form, and I actually prefer it to the second generation. But then I’m a sucker for round headlights, and clean, boxy lines, as well as tall-boys. But you knew that.
Hyundai’s newer i10 has replaced the Atos in many markets, and Michael Karesh did a test of one at TTAC. Instead of the Atos’ little 1.0 or 1.1 L four, it now has a (presumably) more efficient Kappa-based three-pot, making all of 69 hp. The Atos made some 53 hp. Will this class of Hyundai ever make it to the states? Big question. Meanwhile, I’m going to see if I can hitch a ride back to Mexico with this one.
Cute and goofy looking at the same time!
The first-gen Atos gained a small reputation as an anti-car in the late 90’s, perhaps ewoking memories of the Renault 4. I was living in Stockholm at that time, and saw quite a few white collar professionals running around the capital in that car, business suits and attache cases and all. I read that the name was intended as a play on the car being an appliance sort of car, doing duty hauling people from A to Z. I can’t for the life of me understand why they didn’t name it AtoZ then…
Interesting – I don’t recall having seen a single Hyundai-badged car in Mexico in the two weeks I was there last year. However, there were dozens of Accent sedans – branded as “Dodge Attitudes” – supplanting the local supply of Nissan Tsuru taxicabs.
I’ve noticed that in Mexico certain cars are more popular in certain regions. Maybe a distribution thing.
Correction, Dodge carries Hyundai cars ( with a Dodge badge sometimes) for years, they have been selling the Accent Sedan as the Attitude, the 2dr. previous gen as the Verna, two generations of the Atos has gone by, the current generation i10 and i think they are going to introduce the Elantra soon.
As far as the big sellers it does vary from region to region, but the overall seller for year has been the 3rd. generation Nissan Sentra ( sold as the Nissan Tsuru), the current generation Sentra is also sold.
For us Mexican, the big selling points have always been reliability ( although we have not so reliable car makers for the US croud like Renault and Peugeot that have good popularity), low running cost and a low entry price. Therefore cars like the Chevrolet Chevy ( Opel Corsa), VW Pointer, and VW Jetta has always been strong sellers.
Wow, that must have been one looooong ride from Mexico to Oregon in that car. City cars are pretty good in cities, but on long drives?
They’re a braver man than I…
My wife and I have done two 700+ mile trips in a Geo Metro convertible. Quite frankly I’d rather have driven that Atos from Mexico to Oregon than her previous “car” (a Toyota T100 4WD) for more than a couple of hundred miles.
I think it is or was called the Atoz
I remember reading about it in European car magazines
Is this a kei car in Japan?
It’s Atos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Atos
It’s one class bigger than kei car, and since it’s a Hyundai, I doubt they sell many in Japan. They’re none to keen on the Korean competition 🙂
Puerto Vallarta, which is in the state of Jalisco, is TEEMING with these. I think some of the newer ones are badges as Dodge Atos by Hyundai or vice versa.
Yes, Dodge sells Hyundais in Mexico. It gets a bit confusing.