The brand’s sales mix is 76 percent cars in a market that is running at 57 percent trucks, including ever-more-popular crossovers. “We need more trucks,” says Hyundai Motor America president and CEO Dave Zuchowski, alluding to the two medium and large crossovers coming for the new Genesis luxury sub-brand as well as the two sub-Tucson small crossovers coming for Hyundai.
Hyundai has reconfigured the rear twist-beam suspension with a longer and more vertical shock absorber for better impact damping, and conducted an extensive noise-reduction program. New sound-deadening material in the wheel wells, better subframe isolation, and smaller firewall holes combine with a thicker windshield and side glass to cut cabin noise. Greater use of high-strength steel, says the company, allowed it to hold the line on curb weights, with the lightest SE manual at just over 2750 pounds and the heaviest Limited arriving at just under 3000 pounds. That’s in line with Elantras we have tested in the past.