Hyundai has shed some light on their upcoming Sonata. Now, it’s not going to be an all-new version as the current 7th-gen model has been with us for just 3 or so years, pegging its life expectancy at a good few more. Although, looking at how different it will look, it’s certainly a much more ambitious facelift than the half-hearted attempts of many other cars.
In these two initial sketches, it’s obvious that the next Sonata will be styled to be a lot more aggressive than before, perhaps hinting at some revised powertrain and suspension alternations are in the works as well.
The Korean marque has also placed sketches of the current and previous generation Sonata right next to the newer ones in a sort of ‘ape-to-man evolution’ arrangement, letting us observe the stylistic changes that have been applied to the medium sized sedan over the years.
Up front we get a much bolder fascia that’s headlined by the trapezoidal ‘Cascading Grille’ that most recently saw on the third-generation i30. In the standard new Sonata, houses horizontal metal strips whereas a new sportier ‘Turbo’ variant adorns a mesh pattern.
Staying with the ‘Turbo’, it looks to be sporting a wider track, slightly lowered suspension, a rear diffuser element, and a twin split-two exhaust exit arrangement. It’s likely that Hyundai’s newly christened high performance N division will have a word or two in the the development of this quick tempo Sonata.
The engines, though, are expected to be carried over in majority from the current car and a new 8-speed transmission is due for a first appearance here. Their 2.0-litre Theta-II T-GDI turbocharged four-cylinder is a sure-in but the future is a little less certain for the naturally aspirated 2.4-litre.
Should the 2.0-litre turbo four be the single engine option, it will likely be separated into multiple tunes to correspond to the various trim levels and leaning towards luxury or sportiness. However exciting it might be should Hyundai squeeze in a 3.0-litre V6 like the one in the Stinger GT from sister company Kia for a rapid Sonata N, this eventuality seems unlikely.
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