Hyundai Tucson SUVs traverse Africa

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10 January 2006
Immediate Release

Hyundai Tucson SUVs traverse Africa

An expedition of six standard Hyundai Tucson SUVs has just successfully completed a 6200km-long crossing of the African continent.

The reputation of the popular Tucson, already a New Zealand favourite, is enhanced by this grueling three-week adventure from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean … a demonstration of the Hyundai 4x4’s reliability and solid performance under highly demanding climatic and road conditions.

Tucson Coast-to-Coast, organised by Hyundai’s distributor for Portugal, began in the Cape Cross, Namibia's port city on the Atlantic coast. Over 22 days the team traversed the spectacular deserts and mountains of Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Swaziland before finally reaching Maputo on Mozambique's Indian Ocean coast.

All vehicles were stock Tucson SUVs as driven by Kiwi owners, with the 2-litre Common Rail Fuel Injected engine, a 4x4 drivetrain and a driver-selectable 4WD lock to provide a continuous 50/50 torque split between front and rear wheels which came in handy as some 4,000km of the journey was over gravel.

“The cars performed extremely well with just two tyre punctures, three air filter changes and one air conditioning filter replacement,” said Pedro Castelo, PR Manager for Entreposto.

The overall fuel consumption was measured at 9.3 liters per 100km, a respectable figure considering the vehicles were operating for 15 of the 22 days with the air conditioning set at full blast and maximum cargo loads of 300kg. Temperatures ranged from a low of 13 degrees to a high of 45 degrees centigrade.

“Tucson Coast to Coast” photographs can be viewed at www.hyundai.pt

ENDS

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