Hyundai Elantra chosen as North American Car of the Year

Given that Hyundai won this just a few years ago with its luxury Genesis offering, maybe this is becoming a thing.

From CNN:

Detroit automakers got shut out of honors at their hometown's auto show Monday as the Hyundai Elantra and the Range Rover Evoque won North American car and truck of the year awards.

The win by Hyundai is the second time it captures car of the year honors at the show in four years. Its luxury Genesis won the award in 2009.

It also marked another sign of the growing competitive threat that the Korean automaker poses to Detroit. Hyundai Motor's two brands, Hyundai and Kia, captured nearly 9% of the U.S. market in 2011, nearly double the share it had five years ago.

"Sporty yet sensible. Luxurious, yet affordable. Spunky, but safe," said Jayne O'Donnell of USA Today, one of the judges. "The Elantra is a series of paradoxes and every one is another argument for the latest impressive entry in the Hyundai lineup."

A car must be all new or substantially changed in order to be eligible, and the 2012 model is a major reworking from the 2011 and earlier models, which were also respectable (I had a 2009 Elantra as a rental and quite enjoyed its zippiness and roominess).

The gist of the Elantra's selection is that it is a pretty nice car in terms of safety, reliability, affordability, and sportiness, but which feels like a much more expensive car.

For a small car it doesn't seem like a small car. My aunt, who is in the market for one to replace her dilapidated Honda minivan now that she doesn't have to drive a whole mess of kids around, remarked that you could fit a couple bodies in the trunk.

(HT to my mom, who loves her Hyundai SUV, even if it isn't exactly easy on the MPGs)

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Elantra a brain pleaser

While the Mazda6 is being recalled for spider infestation (yep, you read that right), praise is being lavished on the Hyundai Elantra, recently released in an upgraded version that is turning heads with the "fluidic sculpture" design.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Shopping for a compact car is typically an exercise for your left brain. This hemisphere of your mind where logic resides delights in how rational and economical cars in this segment can be.

Meanwhile, the more visually oriented right side of your brain (that also dabbles with emotion) hears "compact car" and goes numb with boredom and starts replaying episodes of "The Cosby Show." After all, what's more visually stimulating than one of Heathcliff's sweaters?

Thankfully, Hyundai's 2011 Elantra takes traditional compact car sensibility and mixes in just enough aesthetic moxie and creature comforts to keep the right side of your brain engaged.

The most likely source for neurological rapture in your left brain will be the Elantra's class-leading fuel economy of 29 miles per gallon in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. With the price of gas rising faster than Moammar Kadafi can update his resume, this efficiency may well push the car to the forefront of consumers' shopping lists in the coming months.

It's not all applause and admiration, though. There are some complaints that the Elantra still behaves a bit like an economy car with noise and power steering. But overall, it is increasingly being regarded as the first car to see for shoppers in that demographic.

The second to the last time I was on the Mainland I rented a Hyundai Elantra, pre-redesign. It was zippy and enjoyable to drive, something that surprised me quite a bit, and by all accounts this is better in most ways, so if it's something I would seriously consider if I were looking for something in that model and price range. Maybe even if I weren't.

Elantra to be built in Alabama

With production of yet another of Hyundai's top products in the US market being shifted from South Korea to Alabama, folks there have reason to be giddy:

Hyundai is redesigning the Elantra and will begin production of the model at its Hope Hull, Alabama, assembly plant late this year, with sales beginning in 2011. The move means Hyundai's 3 top-selling models will be produced in the U.S.

Sonata, the best-selling vehicle in Hyundai's lineup, sold 128,484 vehicles through the end of August, a 51 percent increase over the same period last year. Elantra sales through the same period were almost 91,000, up 21 percent.

The Wall Street Journal is suggesting there won't be many new jobs created, but it's a good sign that the jobs already there will be more secure.

I just hope Hyundai has no problems keeping up quality control as they continue to expand. Here in Hawaii, I drive a Honda Passport, which was actually made at an Isuzu plant in Indiana, and that's the closest I've come to owning an "American car" (my family is loyal Honda/Acura and especially Toyota owners; we used to be Dodge/Chrysler devotees as well, but not after some major problems). So far, my Isuzu-made Honda has served me well, but I've only managed to put ten thousand miles on it in the past four years, not enough for me to completely shake that niggling feeling that cars made in America (versus their counterparts in Japan or even Korea nowadays) of any brand may have unforeseen problems lurking under the hood. Yeah, that's a bit of a prejudicial judgement, but when you have to help relatives whose minivan with 80K miles on it craps out on a freeway at 65 mph, it makes an impression.