2020 Hyundai Sonata First Drive: A Sophisticated 8th Generation

Montgomery, AL - While the American automakers queue up to head the door of the car segments, Hyundai – along with several other Asian manufacturers - is staying put. The reason for this is quite simple: on the American market, consumers bought up some three million sedans over the course of 2018. What’s more, recent surveys indicate a renewed interest in cars as opposed to SUVs in the coming years.

For the Hyundais of the world, it’s a no-brainer to stick it out and continue to develop four-doors and hatchbacks.

So it is that we’ll be seeing a new-generation Sonata in dealerships before the end of 2019. Not only that, but the car will be assembled in an ultra-modern plant located in a suburb of Montgomery, Alabama.

That new generation is the Sonata’s eighth, and you have to admire the incredible progress Hyundai has made with this model over the years. The car we went to meet up close is a mature, homogeneous product, though given how refined and sophisticated the outgoing edition of the Sonata is, the new 2020 is more of an effective and reassuring evolution than a technical or visual transformation.

Play of lights
In recent years, the model’s stylists have continually refined a silhouette already appreciated for its elegance. This time, the chassis gets lowered and the wheel base stretched, which results in a cabin longer by 64 mm and a front section that supplements its already-plunging hood with the lower position to great effect.

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