ROTIMI ASHER
Hyundai Motors Nigeria has launched into the nation’s market a completely redesigned, next generation Sonata.
[dropcap]R[/dropcap]evealed to the motor press at the company’s Lagos showroom on Saturday, the new Sonata, which showcases a sporty four-door-coupe look, embodies Hyundai’s Sensuous Sportiness design concept.
Redesigned for the 2020 model year, the new Sonata is not only different from the old model; it showcases a revamped exterior styling and interior design, ample room, an above-average-size trunk as well as comes with long list of safety features.
Styling
The new Sonata’s frontal section is defined by two elements: a bold, voluminous shape evoking a smooth sphere and a cleanly demarcated hood.
“Sonata celebrates innovative coupe-like silhouette,” said the Head of Sales, Gaurav Vashisht.
A short overhang, sloping roofline and low deck lid create a balanced feel, and Hyundai’s signature chrome accent now goes all the way into the hood, making it look even longer. It also has LED lighting built in. These cues bring the Sensuous Sportiness design to life.
Furthermore, the Digital Pulse Cascading Grille, which resembles the grille of a sports car with its rhythmic visuals, is sleekly connected to the hood, strengthening the overall perception of the front.
Lighting Lamps—the first for a Hyundai vehicle—are a chief design innovation that incorporates state-of-the-art lighting technology, forming the Sonata’s light architecture. The Hidden Lighting Lamps appear to be of a chromic material when switched off and become dramatically lit when turned on.
The light architecture was initially revealed through Hyundai’s HDC-2 concept car at the Busan Motor Show in June last year. It was created by fleshing out the form of the lamp and making it into a powerful design element. Along with the Sensuous Sportiness concept, the light architecture defines the design identity of future Hyundai cars.
The side sections of the Sonata are accentuated by the light architecture, which connects two chromic lines seamlessly linking the windows and daytime running lights. Through these two characteristic lines, the Sonata effuses an athletic and elegant charm.
The all-new Sonata has a wide, layered long hood, a very low stance and a sleek roofline. The feeling of width is also achieved with ultra-wide taillights.
Comfort and Space
The light architecture is also applied to the interior space with the ambient mood lamp illuminating dashboard and doors.
In the interior, the instrument panel is rich and modern, and the recognizable winged shape is inspired by a Stealth aircraft. This shape almost levitates or floats when looked at, and this philosophy carries into the long armrests. Satin chrome accents enhance this effect. Designers compressed the height of the dashboard and HVAC vents as much as possible to aid the light-weight feeling, while modern, light fabric colours and leathers provide a fresh and freeing ambience for the driver.
The clean and sleek design is carried through the center-gauge cluster display. Designers aimed to alleviate the distracting large screens featured in many luxury cars today and instead threaded the two displays together on the 2020 Sonata, using a unique S curve.
These displays are seamless, with no parting lines, and have capacitive touch buttons.
Additional features include a satin chrome accent on the steering wheel, which looks like an aircraft yoke, and shift-by-wire transmission controls to free up storage space.
One of the new Sonata’s Unique selling Proposition is its ample seating space and trunk space. It comes with 16 cubic feet of trunk space , which is above average for a midsize car and more than Kia Optima’s 15.9 cubic feet of space, and the Toyota Camry’s 15.1 cubic feet.
Power
Although the 2020 Sonata comes out with four trims (SE, SEL, SEL Plus and Limited), what was revealed in Lagos on Saturday is Elite SE, with options of two engines : 2.0-Liter Multipoint fuel injection (MPi) engine, producing 152PS at 6200rpm, and Max Torque of 19.6KG.M at 4000rpm and 2.5L Smartstream Turbo Engine, producing 180ps at 6000rpm and max torque of 23.7kg.m at 4000rpm.
Both engines are mated to 6-Speed Automatic Transmission,
Safety/Equipment
The redesigned Sonata is equipped with adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, automatic high-beam headlights, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane tracing assist, driver attention monitoring, and a rearview camera as standard.
Lovers of this car could also have optional active safety features including blind spot monitoring, reverse automatic braking, a blind spot camera, a surround-view parking camera system, a head-up display, and front and rear parking sensors.
Also optional is remote parking assist, which you can use to automatically park and unpark the car from tight, perpendicular spots.
Competition
In the Nigerian automotive market, Hyundai Sonata rivals the likes of Kia Optima and Toyota Camry.
However, to the management of Hyundai Nigeria, the new Sonata has all it takes to slice significant market share within the nation’s mid-size car segment.
Reinforcing this belief, the company’s Group Marketing Head – Arpita Luthra, reiterated that Hyundai is now the highest selling brand in Nigeria in the New Car Segment.
“And Stallion’s partnership with Hyundai Motor Company,” he explained, “has come a long way since 2014. The group is committed to provide the best in class service and a fabulous range of world-class vehicles and mobility services to the Nigerian consumer.
“The vehicles are getting assembled in Nigeria and are tropically modified to handle the road severity of the region.”
According to Hyundai Nigeria’s Head of Sales, Gaurav Vashisht, Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with vehicles that are helping to build solutions for a more sustainable future.
As revealed over the weekend, Hyundai Nigeria is offering the 2020 Sonata for about N12.5 million.
