There are cars designed to inspire, cars which are designed to excel and cars designed to perform. I was thinking on all these fronts when I was driving the stately Sonata from Bangalore to Pune. And when we hit the really interesting sections requiring my undivided attention, the above thoughts kept crowding my mind. With a vengeance!

Hyundai has made a very successful start to its operations in India. It has used this to good effect to get going in different segments and more importantly building on each and every one of them. From the Santro to the Accent, its rise has been fairly well documented and now it has set into motion a gameplan which might just be its most ambitious to date. More so given the fact that this plan is at the exact polar end of the spectrum in context of its small and mid-size car offerings.

Enter the Sonata, Hyundai Motor India Ltd's latest, with which it plans to make a splash with the creme de la creme, the very sort who normally look for Mercs as their preferred set of wheels. Of course preference is one thing and actual splurging on an acquisition is another. But Hyundai is probably working on this very premise to offer a very affordable alternative and in the process take a very important step up in class. Having driven the Sonata before in Korea and now for the better part of 2700km in India, I can stick my neck out and say the newest Hyundai is not only affordable but a mighty sensible option as well.

GENESIS: Sixth of the line.
Much ground has been covered on the history of the Sonata when we did the drive story at the time of its introduction in Korea early this year. Suffice to say that in keeping with HMIL's approach to the business, it has launched the latest product here as well. How new it is can be gauged by the fact that it will go on sale in Europe later this month, having gone on sale in the US just a month ago! The Sonata brand has been one of Hyundai's most successful name plates in the Korean domestic market as also in the USA and with the latest - sixth generation - model, HMIL hopes it will prove to be the class of car many would like to be seen in.