2024 Hyundai Sonata Gets Rendered Without DRL Light Bar, Now It Looks Even More Futuristic

When the third-gen car was introduced in 1993, it looked every bit as modern as say the Toyota Camry, although it did start to feel rather outdated toward the end of its production run circa 1998. Subsequent models went on to feature bolder designs, attempting to strike a healthy balance between novelty and familiarity.

The company then started playing with these sharp, angular designs in the late 2000s, before once again playing it safe with the seventh-gen model in 2014. Well, the days of playing it safe are over, because this current model (the 8th-gen Sonata) looks extremely modern, and dare I say (with the right specification) quite dynamic too. This applies to the N Line version, with their larger wheels, darkened accents, aggressive bumpers and so on.

When they decided to finally apply a facelift last year, they went with a rather futuristic approach, where you no longer have conventional-looking headlights flanking the grille, but rather a full-width DRL light bar at the very bottom of the hood, with the headlights getting positioned underneath, hidden above the air intakes.

Meanwhile, the grille was moved further down as well, allowing for even sharper design elements to be used. Again, the N Line spec is the one you want should you truly desire a good-looking 2024 Sonata. The base spec retails from $27,500, while the N Line costs upwards of $34,950.

Aside from looking a lot better, the latter also comes with a 290 horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline unit, working alongside an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with paddle shifters.

Other highlights include the N Design 19-inch alloy wheels, N unique sport front seats with microfiber inserts, glossy black side mirrors, a unique grille pattern, gloss black window surround moldings, quad exhausts, a 12.3-inch LCD cluster as standard, ambient lighting for the interior, aluminum sport pedals, and a leather-wrapped N sport steering wheel.

It’s a good-looking car, by most metrics. However, what if we were to remove that fancy new full-width light bar from the front fascia? Well, the folks over at Kolesa did just that and to our surprise, the car doesn’t necessarily look any worse. In fact, one might argue that it looks a little more sinister than before, which a lot of people do appreciate.

I don’t even know what to compare it with, because there aren’t a lot of cars out there with such bold front-end styling. It's like a cross between the IONIQ 6 and the BMW 7 Series / i7, where the latter also features headlights that have been repositioned inside the bumper, but unlike this rendering, the Bimmer still has light units above the grille, which by the way is still located in a familiar area.

I’m digging this look for the Sonata. Truly.