Hyundai's "Toyota and Honda Killer" 2005 Sonata Sedan Revealed

SEOUL, Aug. 31, 2004;(Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest automaker, debuted Tuesday its much-touted new Sonata sedan, hoping to become one of the world's top five carmakers by 2010.

The new sedan, named "NF Sonata," was put on display at a hotel in Seoul with about 300 company officials and reporters in attendance.

In an opening speech, Hyundai Motor vice chairman Kim Dong-jin said the NF Sonata will be the company's first model that will be listed as one of premium cars in the world.

"We will sell 100,000 NF Sonatas in the domestic market and 200,000 models overseas in the near future," Kim told reporters.

"The NF Sonata is a car with a more-sophisticated design, based on global norms in terms of safety, durability and environment," he added.

Hyundai Motor officials said the vehicle will pass Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord in terms of quality and technology.

The NF Sonana is expected to help Hyundai Motor increase its brand awareness among consumers around the world, the company said.

Hyundai Motor developed the new sedan after 26 months of research and 290 billion won (US$251 million) in investment, it added.

The automaker aims to sell as many as 40,000 NF Sonatas in South Korea by the end of this year and plans to begin shipping them abroad from November.

The NF Sonata is basically built with Hyundai Motor's 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter engines.

To better compete with Japanese carmakers in the United States, Hyundai Motor will produce a 3.0-liter NF Sonata model at its U.S. plant from next March.

The retail price of the NF Sonata with automatic transmission was set at about 24 million won, according to the company.

"With a better engine and a fancier interior, the NF Sonata is expected to have a wide appeal," said Suh Sung-moon, an analyst at Dongwon Securities Co., a local brokerage.

"Because it is an all-new design after six-and-a-half years, there may be many buyers waiting," he added.

In line with Tuesday's unveiling, Hyundai Motor launched a massive marketing campaign to boost sales of the NF Sonata in South Korea amid weak consumer spending.

In the first six months of this year, Hyundai Motor posted a net income of 973 billion won on sales of 13.3 trillion won, up 5.3 percent from a year ago.

Last year, Hyundai Motor produced about 2 million cars, accounting for 4 percent of global shipments.