Hyundai aims to sell 120,000 facelifted Avantes by 2019

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) — Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest carmaker by sales, said Thursday it aims to sell 120,000 units of the refreshed Avante compact in the domestic market by 2019.

“The dramatic changes in exterior designs, particularly the head and rear lamps, are aimed at attracting young customers in their 20s and 30s,” Hyundai Motor Executive Vice President Lee Kwang-guk told reporters in a media test-drive event in Namyangju, just east of Seoul.

He said the company aims to launch the upgraded compact car in the United States within this year, without elaborating. The Avante is sold as Elantra in overseas markets.

The upgraded Avante comes with drastic changes to the front fascia such as triangular headlamps and bolder grille, with the rear getting new treatments in the form of a new trunk and taillights. It comes with a host of advanced safety features like the driver awareness warning and safe exit assist systems, along with a revised center stack.

The car sold here will be powered by a 1.6-liter gasoline, a 1.6-liter diesel or a 1.6-liter liquefied petroleum injection (LPi) engine that can offer better user experience, Hyundai said in a statement.

The 1.6-liter gasoline model is available with a manual transmission or an intelligent variable transmission (IVT) engine. The 1.6-liter diesel version is equipped with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The 1.6-liter LPi engine is mated to a six-speed automatic torque converter, the statement said.

The Avante model mated with a 1.6-liter gasoline turbo engine and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission will be launched in November, it said.

The model, which weighs 1.3 tons, has been rated to travel 14 kilometers to 17.8 km on a liter of fuel depending on the model.

The prices of the best-selling compact car will start at 14 million won and go up to 24 million won (US$12,000-$21,000) depending on options.

Hyundai has shipped out nearly 13 million units of the Avante, sold as Elantra outside of Korea, as of July 2018. The car was launched in October 1990.

This photo provided by Hyundai Motor shows the facelifted Avante compact being driven at a media test-drive event near Seoul. (Yonhap)

A rear three-quarter view of the refreshed 2019 Avante compact (Yonhap)