2011 Hyundai Sonata pre-release photos leaked

Photos of the latest 2011 Hyundai Sonata taken during a pre-release photo shoot have been posted on hyundai-blog.com.

2011 Hyundai Sonata spy photo

The photos reveal a four-door stylish coupe like car with a slightly sloping roof line, and stylish front and rear ends.

autoworld.wordpress.com has speculated that the 2011 Hyundai Sonata may be powered by some variation on the Hybrid Blue Drive Architecture, that the company had introduced in 2008.

2011 Hyundai Sonata rear view photo

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is likely to get either the 2.4 liter Theta II engine or a 2.0 liter Theta Turbo GDI plus a 30kW electric motor that provides an additional 205 Nm of torque, the website has said.

In both cases, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata will come with a six-speed transmission.

Autocar, on the other hand, has reported that the 2011 Hyundai Sonata will come with ‘R’ diesel engines, and small petrol and diesel engines, that Hyundai recently announced for the ix35 and Santa Fe.

Both the interiors and the exteriors of the car are novel and differ very much from Hyundai’s previous productions.

2011 Hyundai Sonata interior photo via hyundai-blog.com

The interiors of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata looks too plush for a midsize sedan segment car.

Autocar quoted an Hyundai insider a saying, “We expect the car to be close to or class-leading in every department such as emissions, handling, ride and so on, but what really marks it out is that it will sell on its looks as well as all its other attributes.”

Reports say that the 2011 Hyundai Sonata will be called the i40 in Europe. The new 2011 Hyundai Sonata is expected to hit European and American showrooms by the first half of 2010.

The car in the picture is believed to be designed for Korean and American markets, though the European version is said to be similar.

Another report says that the Estate version of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata will be launched first in 2010, followed by the saloon and hatchback models that will be launched in 2011.

The 2011 Sonata is definitely a huge design departure from the last generation Sonata. That was one bland ugly duckling of a car which was super practical and effiicient, and did the job well – but absolutely nobody loved. The new Sonata is definitely not going to go down that road. This is one car, much like the upcoming Tucson ix35 SUV that one can like.