Two hundred thousand – 200,000 – and counting!
That’s the incredible sales tally year-to-date of the Hyundai Sonata, the Alabama-built sedan that catapulted Korean government backed maker into the automotive big leagues in the U.S. market.
Decades of learning and incremental changes mean Hyundai is now competitive with Honda and Toyota.
The family car is the first Korean car in history to break into the top the U.S. sales list long – decades long – dominated by the Japanese and Detroit “Big Threes.”
Sonata is already spawning derivatives, including a parallel hybrid electric version designed to take on Toyota’s dominance in this government-dictated green car segment.
There’s also a turbocharged version – 274 horsepower on regular unleaded fuel – to tackle the much larger end of the buyer spectrum. In what is an automaker’s dream, production capacity is fully used.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
