Hyundai Wants To Adapt Sedans To Customers’ Needs, Not Ditch Them

A number of major car manufacturers are walking away from the sedans, but Hyundai says it is very much committed to the class well into the future.

While Jalopnik was attending the Nurburgring 24 Hours on behalf of the South Korean automaker, it had the opportunity to speak with the head of global product strategy & design for Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, Thomas Schemera.

Quizzed about the future of sedans, Schemera said that rather than ditch sedans entirely, it is a smarter move for car manufacturers to adapt them to suit the preferences of customers.

“If you ask my personal opinion, [Ford, FCA, etc. dropping sedans in favor of SUVs and CUVs] is a big mistake. Everybody is going now for SUVs, everybody thinks that the market for sedans is going down,” he said. “Our way of thinking is maybe to differentiate the sedans a little bit more in detail. Think about rugged style. If the look and feel of sedans is different, you make the difference.”

Also Read: 2020 Hyundai Sonata Comes To America As A Four-Door Coupe For The Masses

According to Schemera, producing a sedan in today’s world where customer preferences are shifting towards SUVs and crossovers, you need to design sedans with a difference. “Maybe to design, to compose, or to interpret a sedan more differently. The space and utilization of a sedan is from my point of view also unbeatable. This is a nice thing,” he said.

Not only does Hyundai talk the talk about sedans, but it also walks the walk as, last year, it introduced the new Accent in the United States and, perhaps more significantly, it has launched a radically-redesigned Sonata.

This isn’t to say it isn’t also investing heavily in SUVs and crossovers. Far from it, as its current range includes the Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe, Santa Fe XL, and Palisade, and soon, the small Venue. It’s just not putting all its eggs in one basket. Wise move, if you ask us, just in case the tide turns…