Hyundai is set to discontinue the i30 hatchback globally with no direct successor planned as demand for petrol-powered small hatchbacks continues to fall. Already off sale in Australia — in non-N Performance spec — and markets like New Zealand and the UK, the i30 hatchback is still sold in many European markets but for how long is not known.

Asked about plans for the i30’s future Hyundai’s Europe CEO Xavier Martinet hinted to British publication Autocar that no fourth-generation i30 is in the brand’s plans.

“There might be a reason why we don’t talk much about it,” he said of the i30. “The problem is that in this segment the demand is not growing, and it’s also a vehicle that historically was mostly a fleet vehicle, on which the profit is not so high.”

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“The small proportion of retail sales was not enough to compensate for the low-profit fleet sales, he added, because “the price was lower, so the profits [were as well]. When you put everything together, the business case is not extremely compelling.”

While some brands like Toyota and Volkswagen still feature big-selling ICE hatchbacks in their lineups like the Corolla and Golf respectively, Hyundai is hardly alone in killing off its own, with models like the Ford Focus, Renault Megane, Nissan Pulsar and Mitsubishi Lancer no longer in production thanks to the rise of the SUV. In fact, most of those models were replaced by small SUV models, like the Nissan Qashqai.

Hyundai could take a similar route as it looks to fill the gap left by the i30, Martinet suggested to Autocar: “We might still have some answers coming, but it might be a different answer to the one we’ve got so far.

“I might be a bit cryptic in my answer, but at some point in time we have to know when to stop and how to do the next generation – this is one of the question marks we have.”

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One such answer might be the recently-revealed Ioniq 3, which is a similar size to the i30 but is powered by electricity. Another answer might be the new Avante, which was revealed over the weekend in South Korean market Avante form, but will also sold in markets like North America as the Elantra. The Elantra hasn’t been sold in most European markets for over two decades and in Europe, the Avante could be called i30 Sedan like it will be in Australia.

Production for Australian-spec i30 hatchbacks continues for now only in high-performance N spec at the brand’s Czech plant, with non-N models only sold from available stock. But the i30 nameplate is set to continue when the next-generation sedan launches next year, but likely not on a hatchback.