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Hyundai will look to overturn the four-star result its new i30 hatch received in Euro NCAP testing. The Korean manufacturer is considering asking the crash testing authority to re-test the car, its Australian arm claims.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia sales and marketing boss Kevin McCann told the Carsales Network the company was disappointed with EuroNCAP's four-star safety rating for the i30. The new small car was designed to meet five-star standards from the outset, he says. Contradictorily its sibling Kia C_eed was awarded five.

According to McCann says a nuance in test scoring meant Hyundai's rating was rounded down to four -- and the Kia's up to five. This was reason enough for the company to argue for a re-test, he said.

"In all of our internal testing it exceeded the [five-star] requirements. Its sister project [Kia C_eed] with a very similar body architecture received five stars.

"We understand there's effectively half a point between the way they score various elements. We believe that because this is a single-incidence test, the half point could be for a variety of reasons, either related to the car not, including the placement of the [crash test] dummies or the sensors of the dummies and so on.

"The fact is, for the overall rating, the C_eed scored 34, the i30 scored 33. We were apparently a little bit above 33, they [Kia] were a little bit below 34; they were rounded up and we were rounded down and it meant a star's difference."

McCann continued: "That's something we're not too happy with, especially given it's based on single-incidence testing when our own multiple-incidence testing put us well above the requirements. We're totally blindsided by this outcome because we were very confident going in.

"We have applied for a re-test and will go through that process with EuroNCAP, but in the meantime we have to present the i30 as a four-star car."

Australia's safety watchdog ANCAP will publish results for the car with a four-star rating until the re-test.

"This needs to be revisited now," said McCann.

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