Holy crap; how is this the 2024 Hyundai Sonata? Oh wait, the answer is simple: Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis have arguably the most impressive exterior-design team in all of automobile-dom, and this mid-cycle refresh of the Sonata sedan that launched in 2019 is just another victory for a design team that has been on an absolute roll for the past five-ish years.
Let’s get straight to the new “curved display” that “combines both 12.3-inch driver information clusters and 12.3-inch AVN infotainment system.”
Now let’s look at the face. That big bar across the front edge of the hood, and the aggressive lower fascia (especially on the N Line) — they just work. The car looks a bit alien, but I’m into it. Here’s what Hyundai says about the Sonata’s new nose:
SONATA’s low-slung exterior exemplifies progressive automotive design and embodies ‘The Sportiness’ with a horizontal front-end layout that integrates Hyundai’s signature Seamless Horizon Lamp, hidden headlamps, wide grille and air intake for a more dynamic and aggressive appearance. The Seamless Horizon Lamp and wide-set, hidden headlamps create a dramatic lighting effect, emphasizing the vehicle’s wide stance while adding a futuristic touch.
As a reminder, the outgoing Sonata looks good, too — but I think this new face just looks cooler. You decide:
The rear end also works quite well — again, thanks to a horizontal light bar. Here’s what Hyundai has to say about the new tail end:
At the rear, the new H-lights further emphasize SONATA’s high-tech image and wide stance. The swooping spoiler-shaped trunk lid and muffler-shaped rear garnish on the standard model reinforce the impression of a high-performance sports sedan while the addition of a rear spoiler and dual twin-tip mufflers along with exclusive 19-inch wheels on the N Line further amplify that image.
Here’s the outgoing rear:
The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry should be worried.
Where is the “SPAM” report button?
The Less Squished, less bottom of the pond sucker fish look is an improvement over the outgoing model to be honest.
So it looks great. I can’t help but wonder thought how much it would cost to replace that screen in the interior. I’ve never broken an infotainment display, but this just seems to be tempting fate.
The Tesla Model 3 ones are $400ish retail. Considering how much less labour for them to manufacture and install I think it is worth it to their bottom line.
“Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis have arguably the most impressive exterior-design team in all of automobile-dom”
Considering they designed the horrific mess that is the current one, I’d say not.
This looks a lot better – but they did both. They have some decent looking vehicles, and some downright awful ones.
The current Sonata is, I think, the oldest thing design-wise in their entire portfolio. Maybe the Venue, I forget when that debuted. Everything else was introduced after it or has gotten a refresh if not a whole new generation.
I gotta see it in person before I pass judgement. I spent a few weeks looking at an Elantra N and twice was stopped dead in the showroom when I saw a Sonata N-Line (and I initially didn’t like the current Sonata when the came out). When I asked what it was and drove it, I bought it, and I think it’s flat out gorgeous. I even love that catfish face! And yeah, the wheels make me think “Pontiac” every time I see them, so I got a chuckle from the Pontiac reference in the comments.
This looks exponentially better than the weird fish looking current one. I’ll give Hyundai and Kia some credit-at least they’re willing to take design risks. Pretty much none of their direct competition in the economy/mid priced space is, particularly Honda and Toyota. That being said, it does lead to some misses and cases of over styling. The current Sonata is a good example, as is the Santa Cruz…which I respect and like, but clearly consumers don’t agree with me because they aren’t selling.
While we’re at it-can we get a damn LSD for the N Line? I get that they have to keep some options behind the full N badge and associated paywall but that car has a great powertrain that’s wasted because it can’t put any of it to the pavement. It’s a lot of wasted potential where things stand today. I get that there isn’t really any way to do a full N version of the Sonata without adding AWD and pushing the price into the 40s since the FWD chassis is already pretty maxed out at the 310ish the N line puts out, but the N line deserves to be better than it is.
Still so much fake grille.
Imagine a world in which the Hyundai design team sculpts a new full size truck. Considering that so many Hyundai dealers are right next to their Chevrolet counterparts, they’d basically steal all of the bowtie’s business. No one I know would be caught dead behind the wheel of a modern Silverado – which apparently the design team’s directive was to “beat it with the heaviest ugly stick you can find”. Sure, they’d probably put the lambda engine in them which would make them somehow more unreliable than the Chevy engine, but they would look freaking gorgeous.
I really like the looks of Hyundai/KIA’s inside and out. What I really don’t like are sleazy dealers and frequent recalls.
OH NO, they made it into a Civic
Sounds like you need to find a new optometrist.
Did they stumble across some old Pontiac commercials when writing that marketing blurb? I’m getting some serious Pontiac vibes from that marketing copy.
At least in pictures the new looks better than the old. I appreciate how the old went unique and stood out. This looks unique in a subjectively better way to me.
I keep on saying to anyone who will listen, South Korean automakers are just destroying the competition on styling. Audi, a former leader in design, for instance, seems sound asleep at the design wheel by comparison. And only God can help BMW right now.
Even this mid-cycle Sonata refresh involves discernible and impressive changes enough to turn heads. You are not wrong to be impressed David.
From the most humble and almost humiliating depths of the 80s, Hyundai/Kia/Genesis (H/K/G) Group has been bringing their “A” industrial design game to the big leagues for over two decades now. They are now throwing some heat.
They have been stealing world class design talent from the best of the upper crust Euro manufacturers including BMW AG and VW/Audi and have recruited in sequence Christopher Chapman, Peter Schreyer, Luc Donkerwolke (2022 World Car Person of the Year) and SangYup Lee (2023 World Car Person of the Year).
To borrow a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid competitor automobile manufacturer design chiefs on three continents have been saying for several years now, “Who are those guys? They’re beginning to get on my nerves.”
These H/K/G guys are deadly serious and they are leaving the completion in the dust. This is just the beginning. Have you seen the early drafts of the full-sized Genesis EV coupe? OMG!
They’ve gone from zero to hero in about thirty five or so years – about the same length of time as it took the Japanese. My feeling is we’re in the Korean equivalent of the ‘bubble era’ and it can’t last, there will eventually be some retrenchment.
Kia/Hyundai’s problems are brand image and overlap – there’s little clear distinction between the two. Genesis suffer less from this but their problem will be Europe (if they are going to take a crack at that market, and indications are they want to).
“AVN infotainment system.”
I need some context, because around here, “AVN” stands for “Adult Video News”, and the AVN awards are the Oscars of pron.
Sir or madame: this is a good Christian website. Please don’t pollute it with this sinful conversation. I need my infotainment to take me closer to The Lord, not Brazzers…and especially not anything Score related, as I have the most sinful thoughts about curvy women and I’ve been told by fellow men of FAITH that that’s one I need to specifically avoid.
I dig it. I like the horizontal bar across the front here (and the Kona).
I would have liked the front of the outgoing Sonata if the DRLs didn’t go up into the hood, as the rest of it had less black plastic and more body color for contrast.
I think the “Seamless Horizon Lamp” is too easy of a design, like something a junior member of the studio would come up with on the first day before being scolded to push it further. In contrast, the shape and proportions of the lights it replaces are imaginative and graceful. Some actual art is evident there.
It’s amazing what a facelift and braces can do. Good job, Hyundai. Now, can we talk about the H badge? There’s a reason so many people buy the Korean badges.
Exactly what I was thinking. Also what are these Korean badges you speak of?
The H emblem represents a salesperson and a customer shaking hands. No one thinks it’s attractive but Hyundai sticks with it. Not all Hyundais have that emblem in Korea so their emblems are popular items in the U.S. Also, there are aftermarket emblems in Korea created for various Hyundais. I once owned a 2012 Hyundai Genesis Sedan that had the H badge. I ordered Korean market Genesis wing emblems off eBay. Kia updated their logo, Hyundai should do the same. Just my opinion.
Maybe a question that Torch / David / Adrian can answer. Modern lightning design/ features, are they driven by designers or by the OE suppliers like Hella?
In consumer electronics eg video cards , Android phones, stuff from China, a lot of them are variations of a “reference” design. The light bar (Cybertruck), the headlights underneath the bar reminds me of the BMW i7. Do manufacturers throw them together because OE suppliers now have them in the catalog or is it the other way round?
And oh the outgoing rear reminds me of the Chrysler 300 taillights. Quad exhuasts, how many of them are actually exhausts?
I’m a mechanical design engineer for OEMs, so have some insight.
Sometimes we push a Teir 1 supplier for something new and clever, sometimes they come up with a new technology and try to sell it.
I suspect what’s happened with light bars that are now on everything is that several years ago lighting suppliers worked out how to make them affordably and sold the idea to everyone. NDAs mean the supplier couldn’t warn you you competitors are using a similar device even if they wanted to.
As for the exhaust tips: back in the day they were an engineering choice to adjust exhaust noise. Two smaller pipes would give less boom. These days the exhaust trim you can see is usually attached to the bumper and is entirely a styling feature.
The fact they have called them “dual twin tip mufflers” makes me think they are real, but I’ve also seen bullshit from the design department get published by PR without going through an engineer to check if it’s real, so your best bet is to climb under the car and have a look.
It depends. Premium OEMs will push suppliers for something new, or be the first to implement a new technology because they can afford it (or rather, their customers are paying extra so you try to give them something unique).
Sometimes the OEM will come up with an idea and then push suppliers to implement it. The ‘hidden until lit’ rear lights on the new L460 Range Rover are a great example of this. I don’t know the details but I expect Land Rover will have exclusive rights on this technology for a number of years (and it will filter down the range eventually to amortise the costs).
“hidden until lit” like the ones RX-7’s had with round brake lights behind panels?
I thought the front and back end of the current Sonata hearkened back to the old days of Hyundai styling that was just strange design done badly, although I appreciated the light/chrome line along the hood continuing.
I think the front end needs a bit more body color, but as long as Hyundai and Kia keep working on trying to integrate the lower slung headlights more cohesively into a design, it works very well.
It looks pretty good. I’d like to see it in a two door with a 6 speed.
Now you’ve said that, it’ll be axed in 12 months to be replaced with a CUV with a choice of 2 different auto boxes.
If RoboCop was a car
Is it really that different? Refreshed headlights and taillights…sure. And a new interior. But most of the car really doesn’t look that different.
It’s a mid-cycle refresh, so it makes sense that most of the car didn’t change.
It’s very extensive for a mid-cycle refresh though.
They took the same approach with the Genesis G70
All the sheet metal from the doors forward is new (fenders and hood). Also new lights and bumpers, which is actually pretty extensive for a mid cycle refresh. Most companies have gotten into the practice of only updating the bumpers as the plastics are the cheapest items to change.
Hyundai/Kia: Lets get weird..
I mean this in the best possible way.
If I based my life around looks I’d be paying more in child support than the GDP of some countries.
Looks are overrated.
Or rather, I should more accurately say I’d OWE more in child support than the GDP of some countries.
Definitely an improvement in the looks department, though I don’t know why everyone seems so enamored with half the front end being black. It looks less cohesive and it’s not as if having to replace a bumper cover wouldn’t require the expense of a repaint because of it since it still has painted parts. Also, why not put a hood over the dash display? I have a lot of trouble believing it doesn’t get washed out by sunlight, especially with the sunroof, plus it will look better.
I am glad that they got rid of the cat fish with funky eye liner look. I guess their main rivals are Camry and Accord?
Sometimes you gotta throw shit at a wall and see what sticks. Cant ever fault a designer for taking chances, and that DRL fade into the bonnet was pretty unique.
Where is the “SPAM” report button?
SPAM
How come every comment I get needs to be moderated, yet the spammers get published?