It doesn’t seem like 25 years since Hyundai Canada opened its Canadian doors.
From a faltering start, Hyundai learned fast. I’m sure they won’t object if I say their early models like the Stellar that wasn’t and the Excel that didn’t largely missed the mark.
But the Korean automaker quickly came up to speed with the first Sonata back in 1988.
It was roomy, packed with extras as standard, solid, and above all easily within the budgets of just about every Canadian.
The Sonata was the car that changed peoples’ minds about Hyundai just as the Tucson compact SUV broke new ground and showed that Hyundai could meet and exceed its rivals. Together, these vehicles took Hyundai into the mainstream. Since the first Sonata, Hyundai now has a full line of products from the affordable Accent and Elantra to two SUVs and a full-size minivan. Now Hyundai is preparing to take the next big step into the luxury segment with the V8-power Genesis sedan later this year.
Hyundai has a stated objective to be in the top five of the world’s automakers by 2010. To do that, it is going to launch seven new vehicles in the next 24 months.
Until the next Sonata comes along as a 2011 model, keeping the current model fresh is something that is taken very seriously. With the immediate competition being Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion and Chevy Malibu, getting it wrong is not a good thing.
For the 2009 model, much of the 2008 is retained including...