Hyundai launches all-new Avante in S. Korea

By Choi Kyong-ae

SEOUL, April 7 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, on Tuesday launched the all-new Avante compact in the domestic market as it strives to boost sales amid the growing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last month, Hyundai unveiled the seventh-generation Avante in the United States ahead of its domestic launch this month.

The new Avante comes in two versions, one with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine and the other with a 1.6 liquefied petroleum gas injection (LPi) engine. The 1.6 gasoline hybrid model and 1.6 N high-performance model will be introduced in the first half of this year, Hyundai said in a statement.

The gasoline model is priced at 15 million won-24 million won (US$12,000-20,000), with the LPi model set at 18 million won-22 million won, it said.

Hyundai said it had received about 17,000 preorders for the new model in the past nine days through Monday.

The Avante, sold as Elantra in overseas markets, adopts what Hyundai calls Sensuous Sportiness, defined by harmony among four fundamental elements in vehicle design -- proportion, architecture, styling and technology.

Hyundai has applied the new design concept to the upgraded model of the sixth-generation Grandeur that was launched in November 2016, the new Sonata sedan launched in March last year and the all-electric concept Prophecy.

The all-new Avante is equipped with safety features such as forward collision-avoidance assist, lane following assist, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning and driver attention warning systems, the statement said.

The company has sold nearly 14 million units of the Avante compact in global markets since its launch in 1990. The all-new Elantra will be available in the U.S., the world's most important market, later this year, it said.

From January to March, Hyundai's sales fell 11 percent to 904,746 vehicles from 1,021,391 units in the year-ago period.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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