2011 Hyundai Sonata unveiled at Frankfurt Motor Show
September 21, 2009 by Matt Brogan
As we reported a couple of weeks back, Hyundai was set to unveil its 2011 Sonata at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and over the course of the weekend, the new sedan quietly made its debut for all the world to see.
Codenamed “YF,” this Sonata was penned at Hyundai’s design studio in Irvine, California.
The new Sonata will be available with a choice of three engines, depending on market, which are as follows:
- 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, petrol (123kW)
- 2.4-litre, four-cylinder, petrol (149kW)
- 3.5-litre, six-cylinder, petrol (186kW)
A diesel option, possibly that of Hyundai’s 2.5-litre CRDi (125kW) unit, is also on the drawing board for European and Australian markets as is the future introduction of a hybrid model that will use cutting-edge lithium polymer batteries.
The conventionally powered Sonata is due to begin production mid next year with the hybrid model following in 2011.
Print it: 
Good effort by Hyundai. Looks pleasant enough, but needs bigger wheels and to be shown in a different colour. But I hope this four door coupe nonsense is just a trend, or else Hyundai is going to look a little silly when the fleets come knocking at Hyundai’s door, and choose more spacious rivals.
P.S: Why didn’t they change the name? I thought it was going to be called the i40. That could turn off some buyers.
And there we have it, the start of Hyundais serious model challenge.
I hope very much that Hyundai has tuned ride and handling to match the impressive leap forward in styling and build quality.
Its interesting and its good to see Hyundai stretching themselves with different designs, but to me it looks like something went wrong in the process from initial design sketch to finished product. It doesn’t quite gell for me. Its a good attempt though and I won’t be disappointed to see it on the road.
I agree scott, somethings a bit off about it, there is a promo video and the front end just doesn’t look right too me.
This is good step forward for Hyundai. I heard 2.4L version will hae 200HP and 6 speed auto with Paddle shift and 18″ wheel
I cant quite help but feel like ‘Im meltinggggg Im meltinggggg!”
Everything’s so stretched beyond reason! Still, I gotta see it in the metal.
That grille is a lot like the new camry’s and i absolutely hate it on the camry…
A nice looking car though. Great work from Hyundai
Yep, I was wondering about the grill. It really looks like crap, hopefully an alternative more conservative grill will be on offer when it gets here. Hopefully on the base modle so those of us who don’t crave bling or aspire to matching the Joneses are given a option that wont be so badly dated in just a couple of years.
it looks a bit overdone but at least its not bland i guess, i note a hint of CLS ?
CLS in the front and Passat CC in the profile, but not derivative. I like it a lot, definitely pushing the envelope further than its Japanese rivals
very nice looking i must say.
Front, yeah, hint of Cls. . the rear .. hint of the A4 . . to my eyes.
Definitely going great guns atm .. nice work on the upcoming Ix 35 –
Let’s hope the cars are all priced very nicely. . .
I guess the front looks like recent Peugeot.
And interior is very very Toyotaish…
But overall, this is good looking car.
I like curved roof design, well terrible rear head room I guess…
But it’s 4 door coupe right?
Aesthetic is more important than function sometimes.
The resemblance that you see is entirely in your head. Peugeot-ish, Toyota-ish, oh please!
You wrote “The resemblance that you see is entirely in your head….”
Of course it is. Well, I never drive this car and never seen actual car as most people in Australia.
I just wrote my comment because I read lots of reviews and they said MB CLS and VW Passat Coupe have minimum rear hear space.
I don’t know how big this car is, but it looks like smaller than CLS and Passat Coupe.
So I GUESS THIS CAR HAS REAR HEAD SPACE IS MINIMUM AS WELL !!!!
That’s all, what’s your problem Enzo?
And from these images, I thought this car looks like Peugeot at front and taste of interior is Toyota like…I didn’t say ugly or bad.
I wrote Just my first impression just like other people wrote this forum.
This is “Speak Your Mind”.
We can put anything in our mind as long as followed this site rule.
Is that clear, Enzo?
Seriously front design looks like Peugeot is better than front design looks like Camry.
Looks like Camry means…it’s crap right?
I actually said good thing about this car…I said clap not crap.
And you’re d**k head Enzo by the way.
The Sonata is launched in Seoul and not in Frankfurt… Only ix35 in Frankfurt…
And the diesel engine suppose to be the R-series diesel on the new Tucson-ix/ix35 , which is 2.0 diesel with 136hp and 197hp, but not the 2.5 diesel on iLoad…
Go to the official site to grab more info (wallpaper, screensaver, photo, spec):
http://www.hyundai.com/kr
http://sonata.hyundai.com/Hyundai_sonataYF.html
Nice interior.
Check this out. Guys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP21zS_V3qE
There is also a small color LCD screen between the gauges, which a Mercedes/BMW dont even have…
looks nice in red with the black roof…!
The front end looks Camry apart from the grille.
123KW from 2L N/A is quite decent.
The front looks terrible.The engines seem decent but I wonder from where Hyundai are acquiring the engine technology?
umm. from their engineers I’d say.
The Theta engine is based on the GEMA Project with Mitsubishi and Chrysler…
So the new Theta2 engine on Tucson and Sonata features Dual CVVT techonlogy…
The upcoming 2.4 will have their in-house Direct Injection Technology.
The 6-spd automatic gearbox is also developed by their subsidiary, Hyundai Powertech…
Looks like an Australian Camry.
Yes.
Just adding little bit of touch of sophistication.
Click! thats what i’ve been thinking but I cant quite word it.
i reckon the front headlights look a bit similar to the new subaru liberty’s headlights, except that the Hyundai’s are done more smoothly. Otherwise, this has to be the best looking Hyundai yet.
I’ve not seen a better looking Hyundai till date. Period.
Looks good overall.
However to me, the interior looks like as though it was smashed together with bits from Cadillac, Volvo, Nissan, Subaru and Lexus.
look at the tiny amount of see through glass in the c-pillar, most other manufactures would have cheaped out and just put black plastic there, instead Hyundai put a window in. Good work Hyundai.