File:Hyundai i30 (Korea Domestic) (5477801181).jpg

Around the mid-'00s, Hyundai, having become a large-scale manufacturer selling worldwide, started to differentiate its models to fit differing market tastes.

That meant instead of building one compact sedan (Elantra), it started building different versions for different markets. For the Korean domestic market and North America, which prefer formal sedans, the Elantra was retained and refined as a nice sedan. But for Europe and the rest of the world, which prefer the practicality of a hatchback, Hyundai's German design studio modified the Elantra into a 5-door hatchback, the i30, as seen here. As part of the differentiation, Hyundai started deploying European-style alphanumeric model names on models intended primarily for Europe (or coming up with such names on global models - such as the ix35 for Tucson and ix55 for Veracruz).

The i30, which uses chassis code FD (rather than concurrent Elantra's HD), actually ended up being available around the world - including South Korean domestic market; South Korea is responsible for bulk of the i30 production, though some European-market models are built within Europe. The wagon version, the i30cw, even made it to North America, as the Elantra Touring. That contrasts with Hyundai's smaller i- models, which are built exclusively in India primarily for European and Indian consumption, and not even sold in South Korea where American-style big cars are considered far more desirable.