While sister company Kia is grabbing the headlines with its push into the burgeoning Indian market, Hyundai has just demonstrated its commitment to gain an even deeper foothold in the Chinese market by offering cars specifically designed to its needs. Case in point: the Lafesta.
Despite these images not showing much of the car’s shape, Hyundai terms it as a “sporty sedan”, one that exhibits the company’s new Sensuous Sportiness design language first seen on the spectacularly pretty Le Fil Rouge Concept, which also happened to be at the Beijing Motor Show.
The Lafesta’s name does raise some interesting questions, though, such as why did Hyundai feel an Italian name (meaning ‘festival’) would suit the Chinese market best? They’re aiming it at the new mainstream generation from the 1980s and 90s, but it isn’t clear how a four-door lift back South Korean sedan with a Euro name would strike their fancy.
Still, compared with internationally available Hyundai saloons, the Lafesta does feature some refreshingly elegant lines. Shame then, that the car will only be sold in China. A point of reassurance is that future Hyundais should bear a resemblance to this first swing at their new design philosophy, perhaps even improving it.
The automaker did not specify whether - or how much - the Lafesta is related to an existing model, but we’d hazard a guess to say that the Sonata might be a likely candidate, given the the market’s fondness of longer wheelbases.
Hyundai did say that a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol T-GDI motor resides at the front, driving the front wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic. Specific numbers weren’t provided, but it’s safe to assume power and torque hovering around the 135kW and 265Nm mark.
