The development of the next-gen Hyundai Sonata continues as we can see on the new set of spy pictures of the N/A model caught parked in South Korea’s parking lot. Despite it is wearing a lot of camouflage, now we can see new details of the next-gen Sonata.
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From the beggining, we already seen a lot of pictures of next-gen Sonata, but there are a interesting thing that we have seen in some test mule prototype, and it was the solar panels on the roof. Despite that, this model looks like a high-end or even Sport trim because of the bigger two-tone chromed wheels.
Toyota claims the solar roof can add up to 3.7 miles (almost 6km) of electric-driving range per day while parked, and can continue to feed electricity to the battery pack while the car is in motion. Panasonic also claims the new solar roof more precisely follows the curves of the Prius Prime roof, thanks to a new laminating process for the glass that allows it to attain a three-dimensional shape.
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On this prototype we can see a very pronounced wheel arches as wheel as a body line that it is also prominent, but the camouflage not allows to see much more. The picture of the interior showed a fully disguised dashboard while we can see a brown leather seats with the same colour accents on the driver’s door.
With a new wheelbase and a sharper lines, the design of the new Sonata project DN8 is not confirmed, but looking at the pictures we can find a sleeker sedan probably influenced by the design cues of the “Le Fil Rouge” concept car recently launched at Geneva.
What we can expect in terms of engines and eco friendly? A refurbished Hybrid & Plug-in Hybrid powertrains with a higher powered batteries (with an extended range), more efficient Atkinson cycle engines and even smoother transmissions.
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The powertrain will change as well as design. The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group will enter their “Smart Stream (MPi engine + CVT)” powertrain that were debut at All-New Kia K3. The new Sonata is expected to be equipped with a 2.0 MPi engine with increased displacement, despite the CVT combination.
As you knew, Hyundai is focusing on Eco-cars and while the latest generations of Sonata models received the Hybrid variant a few months later the launch of NA models, with the new generation this won’t happened, and Hyundai plans to have ready the full line-up at the time of launch, they’re already testing both versions.
Hyundai will follow what Toyota has done, and will extend i40’s life until the new Sonata arrives. (Toyota has extended Avensis lifetime until they have killed and now prepares the launch of the Camry directly from U.S). So yeah, we are going to have the Sonata back in Europe.
