Photo: Hyundai
With customer demand significantly shifting towards crossovers, SUVs, and pickups these past few years, automakers have had to reshuffle their product lineups, often dropping big names. We’ve seen it happen to several companies already, and the bloodbath is far from ending.
In fact, if a recent report from South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo, quoted by the Korean Car Blog, is correct, then another model that will be discontinued after the current generation will be the Hyundai Sonata.
Citing undisclosed insiders, the outlet said that “it is an open secret in the company that the Sonata will be discontinued, and Sonata assembly lines are being converted to produce electric cars.” Although a sad rumor, nonetheless, it is hardly a surprise, considering that Kia is looking to become a fully-electric automaker by the end of the next decade.
Now, about the Sonata, it won’t be discontinued in the near future, but after the current one gets facelifted again, or so it seems. Its successor was supposed to arrive around 2025, but its development “is not in progress,” a Hyundai official reportedly said, quoted by the Korean Car Blog. “There is no confirmed content about the development of DN9 (Sonata’s successor) parts,” they added.
Having been around for 37 years now, Hyundai has managed to shift in excess of nine million units of the Sonata globally. The eighth generation, which has been in production since 2019, and is being put together at different factories worldwide, is on the verge of becoming a shadow over the older ones sales-wise. Last year, Hyundai parted ways with 93,142 copies in the United States, according to CarSalesBase, up from 76,997 units the year before. In 2019, 87,466 Sonatas were sold nationwide. The model’s best year in terms of sales was 2012, when 230,605 examples were sold, up from 225,961 in 2011.
Citing undisclosed insiders, the outlet said that “it is an open secret in the company that the Sonata will be discontinued, and Sonata assembly lines are being converted to produce electric cars.” Although a sad rumor, nonetheless, it is hardly a surprise, considering that Kia is looking to become a fully-electric automaker by the end of the next decade.
Now, about the Sonata, it won’t be discontinued in the near future, but after the current one gets facelifted again, or so it seems. Its successor was supposed to arrive around 2025, but its development “is not in progress,” a Hyundai official reportedly said, quoted by the Korean Car Blog. “There is no confirmed content about the development of DN9 (Sonata’s successor) parts,” they added.
Having been around for 37 years now, Hyundai has managed to shift in excess of nine million units of the Sonata globally. The eighth generation, which has been in production since 2019, and is being put together at different factories worldwide, is on the verge of becoming a shadow over the older ones sales-wise. Last year, Hyundai parted ways with 93,142 copies in the United States, according to CarSalesBase, up from 76,997 units the year before. In 2019, 87,466 Sonatas were sold nationwide. The model’s best year in terms of sales was 2012, when 230,605 examples were sold, up from 225,961 in 2011.
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