I8ABMR

Acura is "Honda plus" and Lexus is Toyota plus and Infiniti is just a fancy Nissan. In reality they are all "plus" cars .

joe80

Taurus was a design failure.

I think it's safe to say sonata is a very attractive car for many people. that's the vibe i got in korea, in the U.S, and at the local dealers. and car magazines loved the looks. not a single publication hated the design. mostly it was 'great'.

and it's hardly a controversial/love/hate/polarizing design like you think it is. in person, it's just a very nice looking car. sonata would score very high in styling comparison. if accord is 7.5, camry is 8 then sonata is probably 9.5.

joe80

why would Kia can Sedona? it's sales numbers are ok. Entrourage was canned because it was identical to Sedona. badge engineering doesn work.

and Hyundai doesn't have any plans for trucks. it's a very hard market to penetrate. hyundai is focusing on small cars/hybrids right now.

joe80

I think hyundai doesn't have to have a truck to compete with honda. who would buy a hyundai truck?

Hyundai's new line up inext couple of years

Veloster(will be renamed)
Portico(5 seater MPV)
Genesis sedan R-spec(speculation)

and will just add hybrids to elantra/sonata/accent most likely.


-and i think Elantra will make a huge noise, and will be poised to compete against civic/corolla/cruze.

TRDFantasy

A lot of people thought the third generation Taurus looked great too. It sounds like you're not familiar at all with what happened to the Taurus. It got great reviews back when it came out, but the car still flopped in the marketplace.

Here are some very positive reviews of the 1996 Taurus:

http://www.automotive.com/1996/12/fo...ews/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWPZ6lPTqBI

The Motorweek review also mentions Automobile's very positive review.

There is NO guarantee the new Sonata is going to be the huge hit Hyundai wants it to be, and what reviews and internet enthusiasts are predicting it to be. Again, the world does not revolve around you, friends in Korea, or car dealers. Let's wait and see how the market reacts to the new Sonata.

Car magazines and car dealers all liked the third generation Taurus back in 1996 as well. That did not stop it from flopping in the market.

Nobody expected the third generation Taurus to fail so badly in the market.

Sales of the Sedona are quite poor, and it makes no sense for Kia to have a minivan, instead of Hyundai.

Kia is being positioned as a sporty brand, Hyundai a mainstream brand. It will make no sense to have a redesigned minivan under the Kia brand instead of the Hyundai brand. That is why I have a feeling Sedona will be canned.

This just proves Hyundai's lineup is closer to Honda than Toyota.

joe80

you are right, Hyundai doesn't want to be Toyota. they have no intentions to make full lineups. they know truck market is almost impossible to penetrate. i think they are focusing on small cars and luxury for future. another reason your theory of hyundai copying every toyota move is just flat out THEORY. asian truck= big fail.

we will see, but i just can't see sonata failing. that's not going to happen. it's a good looking affordable sedan. you can't go wrong with that. comparing to 90's taurus is just wrong.

i predict hyundai will sell 120k -140k sonata this year. and 160-180k by next year. i think selling over 200k is not a reach. sonata should be a top 5 best selling midsize sedan in the U.S. sonata was 17th over all best seller last year. i expect sonata become top 10 over all sooner or later. Sonata will be new camry and accord. camcord? no. it will CAMCORDNATA. just watch.

TRDFantasy

Regardless of what you think, the facts are there. The facts are the 1996 third generation Taurus was praised by journalists, reviewers, magazines, dealers, but was ultimately ignored by the market.

You're misinterpreting what I said. Hyundai DOES want to be the next Toyota, there is tons of evidence showing just how much Hyundai imitates Toyota, BUT their lineup is more closer to Honda at this point. Also as you say, Hyundai is extremely unlikely to enter the truck market (or the off-road SUV market for that matter).

joe80

taurus is taurus. sonata is sonata. affordable and reliable hyundai midsize sedan cannot flop especially with all the momentum hyundai has.

TRDFantasy

Agree to disagree, you obviously are a big Hyundai supporter and nothing is going to convince you that there is even a chance the Sonata could flop (and by flop, I mean achieving lower sales than the previous generation) .

joe80

at worst, it will match last year's i4 sale. which would be 108k a year. anything over 100k is not a flop in hyundai's standard. i will consider sonata a flop if it fails to reach 100k a year.

IS-SV

I'm not a big Hyundai supporter (I lack loyalty to any brand), but I think the new Sonata will increase sales over prior gen. That's not really going out on a limb if the economy is in a gradual recovery mode, which certainly will help.

The flop scenario is unlikey for this significantly improved version.

I8ABMR

Just based on Hyundai's track record recently , boosted sales, aggressive pricing, and new fresh styling I would say they will out sell the 100k mark for sure. The new model looks better than a Camary and Accord imho and is comparable in every single facet. Hyundai is designing their cars with target vehicles in mind and its showing in their styling and recent increase in quality. I am impressed.

LexFather

Guys please do not bait. Comment on the topic

mmarshall

Well, with minivans, it DID work with the Dodge Caravan/Chrysler Voyager/Town&Country...perhaps because they all debuted around the same time frame. With the Sedona/Entourage, however, it was clear that the Sedona had a several-year head start in the marketplace, and it showed.

Actually, with the new Sonata this year and the upcoming Equus, Hyundai's focus, right now, seems to be on larger products......the new Forte, a smaller model, is Kia's new entry ths year.

mmarshall

Don't forget, though; the last Sonata was a more conservative design, appealed to a wide number of buyers and cross-section of the public (like I said in the review, even our Union President bought one), had a V6 option, and, most important for families, had easy entry/exit in the back for tall teen-agers. Since the jury is still out on the new one (it lacks several of those features), we'll have to want and see. The upcoming hybrid option, of course, will be a feature that the old Sonata didn't offer, so the hybrid's possible appeal may be something to watch. But the standard 200 HP 4-cylinder gets up to 35 Highway MPG with either transmission, so one does not necessarily have to buy the extra-cost hybrid for good mileage. The REAL question, of course, will be how the upcoming turbo four does....how many potential V6 buyers will spring for the turbo four's (probably) greater, more peaky torque, but lower overall refinement.