Hyundai Motors has crossed yet another milestone in the United States with the new Elantra surpassing all-time sales records in the country. Even before the last week of 2012 had set in, the Korean auto major affirmed that as many as 186,361 units of Elantra sedan had been sold in the country. Furthermore, the car is headed to cross the 200,000 mark by year-end, thus joining the league of Sonata, the only car from Hyundai to attain the feat so far.
The production plant for both the models is in Alabama a third shift has been added by Hyundai to meet with the increased demands over the last few months. There are numerous stylish features and safety characteristics in the new Hyundai Elantra, which is a spacious 5-seater sedan. The car is offered in two variants in the Unites States, GLS and Limited.
Both the cars are powered by a 1.8 liter four cylinder engine churning out maximum power of 148 bhp. The powertrain on GLS trim is coupled with a six-speed manual transmission while the Limited variant boasts of six-speed automatic engine with SHIFTRONIC. There are numerous safety features in the car, the pivotal ones being four wheel anti lock disc brakes, electronic stability control with traction control and as many as six air bags. Other features of the new Elantra are sun roof, turn signal indicators, 17" alloy wheels and heated leather seating surfaces.
The other bestseller from Hyundai, Sonata has also set a record this year with sales figures reaching 2,25,961. With these sales figures of 2012, Sonata and Elantra have joined the league of other successful cars of Hyundai like Veloster, Genesis, and Equus. About Sonata’s astounding performance, John Krafcik, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America has to say, "We'd like to think Sonata helped spur on the latest generation of bolder mid-size sedans, and we're happy to see that this new competition hasn't dented Sonata retail sales, which are now running third behind only Camry and Accord in December."
The auto giant can pretty much expect Elantra to follow the success story of Sonata in the United States and tread to the 2,00,000 sales figures mark by the end of this month. While most luxury cars markets remained gloomy throughout the year, the sedan class cars in Hyundai are all set to end the year on a high note.
