The 2020 Hyundai Sonata Takes Another Huge Design Leap Forward
The new eighth-generation 2020 Hyundai Sonata is here, and it has dramatic new styling.
The mid-size sedan's new fastback-like shape is sleek and daring, marking a bold departure from its more conservatively styled predecessor.
Hyundai is not sharing many mechanical details at this point, but the car will make its full debut next month at the New York auto show.
For the first time since the watershed sixth-generation Sonata debuted to much acclaim-including a Car and Driver 10Best award-Hyundai's mid-size sedan is once again banking on style as its key asset. The first photos of the new 2020 Sonata are here, and it's a visual knockout inside and out, with a vastly different silhouette, fascinating design details, and what looks to be a far more sumptuous interior. Could it be the new aesthetic leader of the mid-size sedan segment?
In profile, the most noticeable change is to the new Sonata's greenhouse, which tapers nicely at the C-pillar, sloping down to a short trunklid to give it an almost Audi A7–like shape. It is still a sedan with a conventional trunk however, and the rear end is distinctive with C-shaped taillights that have a wraparound light bar bisecting the trunklid. The curvy hexagonal grille and smoothly shaped headlights up front are meant to fall in line with the new design language established with the Le Fil Rouge concept car shown last year.
The Sonata's new interior looks to be a big step up as well, with an interesting new steering-wheel design, an elegant-looking dashboard sweep, and cool patters in the brown leather upholstery pictured here. A large horizontal infotainment screen is nicely integrated into the dash, while a pushbutton-style shifter and a digital gauge cluster look to modernize things.
Hyundai isn't sharing any powertrain details about the Sonata at this point, but we expect it to remain front-wheel drive with a naturally aspirated inline-four as its base engine. A turbocharged inline-four should still be optional. Size-wise, the new car is longer, lower, and wider than before, with a 1.2-inch reduction in height, a 1.4-inch wheelbase stretch, 1.7 inch more overall length, and 1 inch of additional width.
Expect to hear more details about the 2020 Hyundai Sonata soon as it officially debuts at the New York auto show in April.
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