Hyundai ix35

When Hyundai launched the second-generation Tucson in 2009, it rebranded the model as ix35 for all markets outside South Korea and North America, aligning with Hyundai’s «i» naming strategy. By 2015 the Tucson badge returned for the third-generation car, ending the ix35 name—yet in China, Beijing Hyundai refused to retire the label. Production continued, positioning the ix35 as a distinct, slightly larger and newer-feeling crossover while its predecessor still occupied the budget tier.

The ix35 rode on a 2640 mm wheelbase within a 4410 × 1820 × 1660 mm footprint. Its rounded nose, hexagonal grille and pronounced wheel arches were part of Hyundai’s mid-2000s «Fluidic Sculpture» look, giving the compact SUV a softer yet more premium stance than the boxier first-gen Tucson.

Because Chinese buyers associated high residual sales value and modern design cues with the ix35 name, Beijing Hyundai kept the badge alive even after the global range returned to Tucson. The company localized production at its Beijing plant, letting the two generations overlap on showroom floors—an unusual dual-model strategy aimed at segmenting price points rather than technical generations.

The ix35 nameplate officially lasted only six model years worldwide, yet its extended production in China and the absence in North America created a geographic split that persists in used-car markets. Collectors now note the subtle badging difference as a marker of destination—ix35 equals «rest of world» from 2009-2015, while later Chinese units post-2015 carry on the legacy long after the Tucson badge took over everywhere else.