Hyundai Sonata Diesel in the works?

Rumoured-ly, South Korean automaker Hyundai is said to be putting together a diesel engined version of the facelifted Sonata sedan, which was launched earlier this year in South Korea. Back then, no diesel engine was announced for the 2015 Sonata although the sedan received a comprehensive makeover. Also, the facelifted car uses the same platform as the pre-facelift model.

This makes the addition of the diesel engine on the Sonata all the more mysterious as car makers usually do not add diesel engines to petrol-only models without a change in platform owing to the extensive re-engineering required for shoehorning a diesel engine in a platform designed to host petrol engines. Details of the turbo diesel engine on the 2015 Sonata remain unclear for now.

Word on the major upgrade is expected to come at the upcoming 2014 Busan Motor Show, slated for later this month. Assuming that the Sonata Diesel is indeed under development mainly for the South Korean car market, the car will eventually be sold in other parts of the world.

The addition of a diesel engine to the Sonata will come as a shot in the arm, giving the luxury sedan a good footing to take on rivals such as the Honda Accord, the Volkswagen Passat and the Skoda Superb, all of which are equipped with turbo diesel engines.

In India, the lack of a diesel engine on the Sonata line up has led to poor sales of the car. In a country whose luxury car buyers overwhelmingly prefer diesel engines to petrol powered ones, a lack of a diesel engine option in a luxury car’s line up is akin to a lost opportunity. On whether Hyundai India chooses to remedy this situation with the speculated diesel powered Sonata remains to be seen.

Via TheKoreanCarBlog