As the rumors have it, the Hyundai Sonata won’t live to see another generation, but it seems the Korean automaker plans on sending their midsize sedan out with a bang, as they have a rather attractive facelift for the car planned. Now, our spy photographers were able to capture photos of this car as it undergoes winter testing in the Arctic Circle.
The test vehicle is extremely heavily camouflaged, so all we can clearly make out is a more intricate wheel design and an unchanged window shape. That being said, thanks to undisguised images of the car from yesterday, we actually have a very good idea of what this facelifted Sonata will look like.
Read More: 2024 Hyundai Sonata Facelift Caught Undisguised With Kona-Style Headlamp Bar
The front end will be dominated by a Kona-esque full-width light bar, which we can see glimpses of through the heavy camo. In conjunction, this means that the headlights will no longer have the current model’s “whiskers”, nor the chrome strips that extend off of them and continue up the hood. The midsize Hyundai will also ditch the large hexagonal grille — which many have compared to a catfish’s mouth — in favor of simpler geometric intakes, the outer two hiding the car’s actual headlights.
Out back, there’s a new rear light bar not too dissimilar to the one on the Ioniq 6 with its pixelated design. However, this one is a bit more complex in nature and seems to still incorporate the outgoing model’s wrap-up into the decklid. Other than that, there’s not much else we can discern about the rear end, as the images from the other day provide a very limited view, and the car in the spy shots features too much camouflage.
See Also: A Hyundai Supercar Is Still Possible, Says Design Boss
Powertrains for this refreshed Sonata should remain all but identical to the current lineup, seeing as it’s a facelift rather than an all-new model. If that’s the case, your options are between various 4-cylinder engines ranging in displacement from 1.5L to 2.5L depending on the market, as well as a few hybridized versions of those engines.
The facelifted Sonata is expected to arrive sometime later this year as a 2024 model, and as mentioned before, this could potentially be its final generation before being phased out completely.
