The discontinuation of a car from the market intrigues both excitement and nervousness. The excitement is up for the new model which will step in its shoes, and nervousness is for the pleasure the good moments that it had given to the buyers which will now be a memory. Certainly, there also hovers a bit of confusion for the carmakers, whether the new car that will be stepping in the shoes will bring the fortunes or would turn into another disappointment. Well, there gets a mixed bag of every feeling behind a discontinuation of the model from a market. The case with Hyundai doesn’t seem to be a bit different.
Reportedly, this Korean carmaker had discontinued its flagship sedan Sonata from India with regards to the low sales. This discontinuation came followed by Nissan Teana that withdrew its upmarket sedans from India for the same reason. Amongst all of them, Honda emerged as a Smart Alex to withdrew its Accord from the India quite market quite before. All of these aforesaid full-size flagship sedans performing their job here lacked the options of diesel engine, where only petrol could be found in their engine bay. Possibly with the rising price of fuels in this country, the buyers had shifted to the diesel variants, which ultimately had made these cars to be low-profile sellers in the used car market, and tentatively brought down the perceived value in the showrooms as well.
Looking back to its glorified past, in 2001 when Hyundai launched its first-gen Sonata in India, the car with its Jaguar-resembling looks made a whir and was sold with the zest. Followed by the second generation in 2005, again the sedan remained a gold hitter with a diesel motor, minus the looks. Soon started degrading over the perceived value due to its tad and outdated appearance, adding more woes to it demands went declining for such sedans. Instead, the buyers here at this price point prefer going with a SUV or a German rival, or exceptionally a Toyota or Skoda product. Still geared up all the remaining strength and launched the third-gen back in 2012, the results are in front of us – discontinuation. Specifically pointing out the numbers, Hyundai struggled to sell only 10 units of Sonata in India for the past six months.
Hence, the gap for such a pricey sedan couldn’t be left vacant, as the carmaker is thinking of rolling out a Sonata Hybrid in its place against the Camry Hybrid, or apparently the ‘Azera’ will also fit right into the slot, said a source.
