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  Carparazzi says the new Elantra is slightly longer, with a wheelbase up to 2700 millimetres, together with styling that is much more flamboyant than the current car.

The all-new Hyundai Sonata is the big news for the Korean brand in Australia in 2010, but...

There is also a new Elantra which is clearly close to a showroom take-off.  A Carparazzi photographer caught the upcoming Elantra during snow-road running in the Arctic and the pictures show a car which is much closer to production than anyone expected.

The Elantra was not originally planned to hit the road until the 2013 model year in the USA, which means sometime in 2012 in Australia, but inside sources point to an accelerated plan to replace the current car.

Carparazzi says the new Elantra is slightly longer, with a wheelbase up to 2700 millimetres, together with styling that is much more flamboyant than the current car.  For a start, it has Hyundai's take on the coupe-like roofline which is now popular with a range of cars from the Mercedes CLS to the Volkswagen Passat CC and upcoming Jetta.

There is also a clamshell bonnet, much sharper cut lines, and turn signals — or are they daytime running lamps — set just behind the headlamps. The wheels are also larger and the tail end is much higher as the Korean company looks for the best aero performance.