The Crank: Would you buy a Hyundai Sonata wagon?

By John LeBlanc ...speaking of "spy shots", look closely at this cloak-and-dagger pic of a Hyundai Sonata station wagon. This is what you get from a company on a roll. And Korea’s Hyundai-Kia Motors is definitely on a roll. Combined Hyundai and Kia brands have sold 151,485 vehicles in Canada so far this year. In case you’re keeping score at home, that’s only behind first place Ford-Lincoln, second place General Motors (Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac), and third place Chrysler-Dodge-Ram, but ahead of such Japanese stalwarts as Toyota-Lexus, Honda-Acura and Nissan-Infiniti. Ignoring some of the self-inflicted wounds from the above-mentioned rivals (i.e. Toyota’s recalls or Honda’s hybrid flops) it’s safe to say much of the Korean automaker’s success is due to the continuous onslaught of new products. In the past year alone, Kia has launched the Soul wagon, Forte sedan, Koup two-door and Forte5 hatch, as well as the Sportage and the Sorento crossovers. While Hyundai has debuted an all-new Genesis Coupe, Tucson, Equus and Sonata sedans. Not taking a break, next year we’ll get an all-new Kia Optima midsize sports sedan—a car that promises to marry Kia’s new European-inspired exterior looks and upscale, driver-oriented cabins, with a new turbocharged four-cylinder that promises class-leading horsepower and fuel economy. And that turbo motor will be added to the Sportage as well. Plus there’s a new Hyundai Elantra, Accent, Santa Fe and Tiburon replacement waiting in the wings… So despite Mercedes-Benz (C Class), BMW (5 Touring) Subaru (Legacy), Mazda (6 Sport Wagon), and even Volvo (V70), to name only a few, having given up on selling wagons in North America in favour of crossovers, it looks like Hyundai-Kia may offer its midsize Sonata wagon—that’s already scheduled for other markets—here as well. According to a report at Autoblog.com, “American [Hyundai-Kia Motors] executives definitely want the car and are working to build a business case for it.” Or perhaps in the form of an Optima sports wagon, an example of which I saw testing at the Hyundai-Kia Motors tech centre in Seoul, Korea, last May. Either way, it would be a sign that the Korean automaker has the chutzpah to go where other automakers fear to tread. But will Hyundai-Kia Motors be rewarded? Would you buy a Sonata/Optima wagon instead of a crossover? Or is the wagon body style a thing of the past in North America? [Sources: Autoblog.com, CarPix]

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