The Hyundai Sonata tops 200,000 sales.
Sales of the Hyundai Sonata have topped 200,000 units, so far this year, making it one of the auto industry’s top success stories of 2010 — and a key factor as the South Korean automaker heads to an all-time sales record.
Hyundai will sell more than 530,000 vehicles in the United States, company officials said, and more than 110,000 in Canada for the first time ever.
“Sonata has delivered some pretty incredible results for us this year,” said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America president and CEO. “Sonata is the Hyundai brand and it’s appropriate it has led to our best year ever.
Year-over-year, the launch of the newest version of the Sonata has generated an incremental 90,000-unit increase in sales. And that’s just in the U.S.
“The Sonata has been an integral part of Hyundai’s transformation in Canada,” says Steve Kelleher, President and CEO of Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.
One of the keys to the Sonata’s strong sales is Hyundai’s decision to go with an all-four-cylinder powertrain line-up. The midsize sedan’s fuel efficiency ratings now set the pace in the segment, with the base powertrain yielding a first-ever 35-mpg highway rating for a non-hybrid, a remarkable 33-mpg highway rating for the turbocharged 2.0T (which packs 274 horsepower, more than any V6 in the segment), and a best-ever 40-mpg highway rating for the breakthrough Sonata Hybrid featuring industry-first lithium-polymer battery technology, Hyundai executives note
The 2011 Hyundai Sonata - the Hybrid shown here - is one of three finalists up for the coveted North American Car of the Year trophy.
The 2.0T, incidentally, generates a segment-leading 137-hp per liter, besting just about every other vehicle in the industry in power-density, from the Buick Regal Turbo at 110-hp per liter to the Lamborghini Murcielago at 98-hp per liter.
Midsize car buyers, meanwhile, aren’t the only ones apparently impressed by the 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The sedan is one of the three finalists for the prestigious North American Car of the Year trophy. It’s up against the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, with the results of voting by the 49 NACTOY jurors set to be announced on January 10, 2011, the opening press day of the North American International Auto Show.
Hyundai previously won, in 2009, for the new Genesis sedan.