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Hyundai Australia has confirmed that the seventh generation of its mid-size sedan will return to our shores as the Sonata, after the name was dropped in 2010 in favour of i45.
The most recent i45 model was removed from the local Hyundai model line-up early last year because of global supply issues.
"We've opted for 'Sonata because it's the global name for the car - the previous Sonata was called i45 in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Columbia only," Hyundai Australia spokesman Bill Thomas told Carsguide.
"The alphanumeric names apply to European-designed/built cars, so i20, i30, ix35, i40 are all Eurocentric, while cars with names - Elantra, Santa Fe, Sonata - are global cars.”
Hyundai has revealed a teaser image of the new model ahead of its debut in Korea later this month, giving us our first glimpse at the car’s exterior styling. Hyundai’s Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design language – first seen on the new Genesis luxury sedan - is expected to give the new Sonata a more premium and refined appearance.
The Korean brand’s hexagonal grille features at the front, with flowing headlights bleeding into the chrome window frames. A muscular character line runs from behind the front wheel arch to the taillights, while the rear profile is sleek, incorporating what appears to be a hatchback tailgate.
With the new Sonata, Hyundai says it has worked hard to improve safety and performance over the outgoing model. With testing undertaken at the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany, the company says it is confident its new car will meet and exceed customer expectations in terms of quality and refinement.
“The all-new Sonata has evolved again, based on Hyundai Motor’s world-class technologies, and it will play an important role in further facilitating our shift from quantitative growth to qualitative growth,” Jeong Gil Park, head of the Hyundai engineering and design, says.”
Increased use of advanced high-strength steel in the Sonata’s passenger cell has also resulted in an increase in torsional rigidity of 40 per cent over the current car. Hyundai is confident the new model will perform positively in crash testing.
More information on Australian specifications and pricing will be released closer to the Sonata’s local launch later this year, but a 2.0-litre turbo version is on the plan. "We haven't got any details yet on specs for Sonata, or how that might change the model mix re i40. (But) drivetrain options will include a 2.0-litre turbo engine," Thomas says.
He says it's too early to estimate whether global production will mean similar supply hurdles to those faced by the previous model. "Supply issues meant we couldn't justify the continued sale of the last car. We can't say how supply will differ with this new model, and I'm afraid we have no information about global production volume, except to say that it's one of our biggest-selling cars globally," he says.
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