2013 Hyundai Elantra highlights

Hyundai announced it has put on sale the all-new 2013 Elantra sedan.

Those who have been wondering about the 2013 Hyundai Elantra release date, the stylish 4-door compact sedan is on sale now at your local Hyundai dealerships.

For the 2013 model year, the Elantra hasn't received any styling updates. There are, however, some trim and equipment upgrades.

2013 Hyundai Elantra updates:

-New exterior paint added to the color palette: Atlantic Blue
- The 2013 Hyundai Elantra GLS (entry-level model) includes air conditioning, cruise control. In addition, the model also features 16-inch steel wheels, telescopic steering wheel and solar glass with windshield shade band.

- Hyundai added heated seats (front) to the GLS (automatic transmission) Preferred Package

- Starting from 2013 Model Year, the power driver seat with lumbar support is now a standard feature of the Hyundai Elantra Limited! The Limited Technology Package also features dual automatic temperature control.

China: Hyundai sales report for the month of January 2012

Hyundai's January 2012 sales in China top 53.500 units!

According to latest sales statistics coming from China, the world's most populated market, Hyundai Motor Company recorded sales of 53.500 units in january.

Hyundai was the fifth best-selling automobile brand in China last month following only Shanghai VW, Shanghai GM, FAW-VW and Dongfeng Nissan.

Leading Hyundai's China sales in january 2012 was the new Verna sub-compact sedan, which is also known as Hyundai Accent in the USA and Canada. Hyundai Verna sales increased 60 percent from a year ago and exceeded 17.000 units sales mark.

The popular Verna sedan was followed by Hyundai Sonata mid-size sedan which recorded sales of  8.006 units in january 2012. Hyundai Sonata sales have been consitently exceeding 6.000 units sales mark over the past couple of months with sales crossing the 10.000 units mark in September last year.

Other Hyundai models that performed pretty well last month include the ix35 crossover, know also as Hyundai Tucson in the States and Hyundai Elantra compact sedan. Thanks to high demand in China, the Elantra sedan was ranked the second-best selling vehicle in the world at the end of 2011.

The Hyundai Elantra has been out of the top 10 best selling cars in the world in the years of 2009 and 2010, but became the second-best selling vehicle on the planet in 2011. With worldwide sales of 1.01 million units last year it was ranked only 10.000 units below the Toyota Corolla, the top seller in 2011!

Hyundai Elantra Coupe debuts in Chicago

Hyundai Motor America unveiled the all-new 2013 Elantra Coupe at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show!

Hyundai is seriously considering to conquer the compact car segment with its Elantra line-up.

The hot-looking Hyundai Elantra 4-door sedan is already one of the top three Hyundai cars in terms of sales in the United States, but Hyundai aims to increase its sales further by introducing the two-door Elantra Coupe 2013 and Elantra GT.

The all-new 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe, which is slated to go on sale in the USA during the second quarter of 2012, is expected to attract younger buyers who prefer the youth-oriented styling and premium features offered at affordable prices.

Hyundai Elantra Coupe highlights

Hyundai Elantra Coupe is powered by the same 1.8L four-cylinder engine as already available in the 4-door Elantra sedan. The unit belogns to the "Nu" engine family and feaures highly-advanced dual continuously variable valve timing - D-CVVT technology.

The 1.8L engine packs 148 horsepower and 131 lb-ft of torque. When coupled with 6-speed manual transmission, the unit achieves 40-mpg on highway which means it is more than 8 percent more fuel efficient than its main rival, the Honda Civic Coupe!

The Elantra two-door coupe has also longer wheelbase, overall length and width than Civic Coupe which results in more comfortable and spacious interior cabin.

The all-new Hyundai Elantra Coupe is outfitted with a plethora of up-to-date safety features such as 7-airbags (knee aurbag available), VSM, ESC, TCS, EBD and ABS systems. Other prominent features include 7-inch touch-screen navigation with rear-view camera, hands-free phone system with voice recognition, and proximity-key entry with electronic push-button start among others.

Pricing for the all-new Hyundai Elantra Coupe is not available, but we are expecting Hyundai to release it closer to its sales debut (summer this year).

SsangYong to unveil Hyundai ix35 rival at Geneva Auto Show

SsangYong aims at Hyundai ix35 CUV with its all-new C-segment crossover vehicle!

SsangYong, the South Korean carmaker specialized in producing crossover vehicles and pick-ups, announced it plans to unveil a compact crossover vehicle at the forth-coming Geneva Auto Show.

The carmaker's compact crossover vehicle will be revealed in its production-ready form state sources close to SsangYong.

The un-named crossover vehicle will take on Nissan Juke and Hyundai ix35 CUV with its stylish exterior, inspired by the carmaker's XIV-1 concept.

The XIV-1 concept was put on display for the first time at last year's Frankfurt auto show where it gained a very positive reaction from the audience and automotive press.

Due to appear at SsangYong's European dealerships in the first half of 2013, the C-segment crossover vehicle will be available in 3- and 5-door forms.

More details about the new compact crossover vehicle and first official photos will be released during the official press days of the 2012 Geneva Auto Show. Hyundai fans and owners, stay tuned!

New Elantra was Hyundai's best-selling vehicle in 2011

New Elantra compact sedan, known also as Avante in South Korea, was Hyundai's best-selling vehicle in 2011.

The South Korean largest carmaker recently revealed that Elantra sales totaled 787.067 units in 2011 and accounted a 19 percent share among all Hyundai cars sold around the globe. Just for your information, Hyundai Motor Company sold 4.14 million vehicles last year, according to latest automotive industry data.

The compact car, which has won the title of the 2012 North American Car recently, has experienced a strong in South Korea where sales have topped 130.628 units in 2011. The rest of the Elantra cars were sold globally.

The all-new Hyundai Elantra was particularly successfull in the States where Hyundai sold more than 180.000 units of the C-segment sedan.

The achievemnet is even more impressive if we consider that Elantra has not yet hit the two of the most populated car markets in the world, the China and India.

Furthermore, the Elantra range will soon expand by a 2-door Elantra coupe and new 5-door Elantra Touring. With this in mind, we can expect the Elantra to become Hyundai's first million-selling model (in one year alone).

Following the Elantra as the second and third best-sellers among Hyundai cars were the sub-compact Accent sedan (and hatchback) and Sonata mid-size sedan selling 586.291 and 523.320 units, respectively.