TOC X'mas Party - 16 Dec 2009  

Five-day X’mas SUV special for new Tucson and Santa Fe pulls in the throng

Attendance:
30 cars
108 pax

FOR weeks they had been bothering us, telling us how much they knew, how much they’ve read, seen and drooled over the fine sculptures.
But when could they get their hands on it?
Blame on it www that the question drew a blank. Or rather, thanks to the Internet, it is today commonplace for carbuyers to check out their interests on the world-wide web.
Like checking out the all-new 2010 Tucson and the 2010 Santa Fe…
Long before the two SUVs arrived in the fourth quarter of last year, they knew that Hyundai had embarked on a new, revolutionay design platform called “fluidic sculpture”, and that the second-generation Tucson represented every bit of  this new beginning.
What they didn’t know was that Korea had not even asked Komoco to place orders, although both cars were already being sold in England, Europe and Australia.
And so it came to pass that, following some accusations that they were being deliberately kept on tenterhooks, the cars arrived at last in late November.
As luck would have it, Christmas was coming. Just nice for a launch party.
To all intents and purposes, then, Komoco decided to make it a double launch of the Tucson and Sante Fe,  staging a five-day “Hyundai Christmas SUV Special” at its Alexandra HQ from  16-20 Dec.
While the mint-condition diisplay models shimmered under the spotlights on-stage, on the ground a fleet of six brand new Tucsons and seven Santa Fes were up for test-drives.
Even then,, it seemed insufficient because they were out all night long on the first day of the festival. But, as first days generally go, Wednesday the 16th kicked off with a bang of over 400 invited guests, business friends, pressmen and members of the Tucson Owners Club (TOC) jamming up the place.
Just as well that the TOC (dubbed “Toc Of The Town”) seized the opportunity to coincide its annual Christmas party with the first night, drawing in 110 members and their families in 30 Tucsons.
To give the Hyundai SUV bash a further boost, buyers stood a lucky-draw chance of winning two tickets for two each to Disneyland, Los Angeles, and five tickets for two each to Seoul, Korea (see box for the winners).
Yet, on the first three days of the event, bookings for the two new cars were minimal despite lots and lots of  test-drives.
Strange as it might seem, however,  bookings suddenly leapt to three-digits on the last two days, a Saturday and Sunday.
As veteran Sales Consultant Martin Pang sees it: “Weekends are normally busy, but this promotional weekend had a “Special” mix in the crowd.
“A good number of customers didn’t even bother to test drive. We wondered why. We thought that just seeing the car and the brochure was good enough for them.
“We were not so right. When we asked, some of them said they had already tested it the night before, or on the first night, the second.
“But the test-drive queues were so long that, after getting their turns, they decided to go home. They said it was too crowded to get down to serious business.”
Because, seriously, the new Tuc and Santa have lived up to the promise of www.