Hyundai seeks more near-luxury buyers with all-new Azera
Photo credit: HYUNDAI
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LOS ANGELES -- The new-product blitz at Hyundai continued today when the Korean brand introduced a redesigned 2012 Azera near-luxury sedan that boasts leather seats and a navigation system as standard features and a more powerful V-6 engine than its predecessor.
The Azera slots between the Hyundai Sonata mid-sized sedan and flagship Genesis sedan. The Azera has a more-refined interior and an improved powerplant, and its exterior was redesigned to adopt Hyundai's "fluidic sculpture" design language.
Hyundai revealed the Azera today at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The 2012 Azera is the car's first major redesign since the nameplate debuted in the U.S. market in 2005 as a replacement for the Hyundai XG350.
Until the Genesis debuted in 2008, the Azera was Hyundai's flagship sedan. U.S. sales of the Azera and XG350 overlapped from 2005 to 2008 and peaked in 2006 at 26,833 units combined.
The 2012 Azera has a longer wheelbase and sits lower and wider than the outgoing version of the vehicle. The Azera is also longer and wider than the Sonata mid-sized sedan.
Photo credit: HYUNDAI
Power from the Azera's 3.3-liter V-6 engine with gasoline direct injection technology peaks at 293 hp. Torque maxes out at 255 pounds-feet -- more powerful than both the 3.3-liter and 3.8-liter V-6 engines available in the 2011 Azera. A six-speed automatic transmission developed by Hyundai helps the car achieve 20 mpg in city driving and 29 mpg on the highway.
Hyundai says the Azera will compete with large and near-luxury sedans such as the Nissan Maxima, Ford Taurus, Toyota Avalon, Acura TL, Lexus ES 350 and Buick LaCrosse.
The current Azera is the worst-selling vehicle in Hyundai's U.S. lineup, with just 1,448 units sold in the first 10 months of this year, down 45 percent from last year. John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, said the current Azera had had no advertising support in 2011, a sell-down year for the vehicle.
"We think there is a lot of upside with Azera in 2012," Krafcik said prior to the L.A. show. "There is no question we will do substantially better with the 2012 Azera than we have in the past."
Photo credit: HYUNDAI
Incremental sales
The Hyundai brand has outpaced the overall U.S. light-vehicle market this year. Its sales have increased 21 percent to 545,316 through October, breaking an annual record of 538,228 for the brand last year.
The redesigned Azera will help boost the brand's overall volume without taking away sales from the Sonata, Krafcik said. That's due in part to the fact that Hyundai offers only four cylinder engines in the Sonata.
"We think it will be from a volume standpoint … completely incremental," Krafcik said recently. "What we have done with the [Sonata's] all four-cylinder strategy is we have room to sell a distinct upper-mid or large car, which the Azera will be in a way that does not cannibalize Sonata sales."
There will be some price overlap between fully loaded Sonatas and base Azeras, as well as highline Azeras and base models of the Genesis sedan, Krafcik said.
Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, a navigation system with a backup camera, heated front and rear leather seats, LED-accented headlights, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and other upscale touches.
A Hyundai spokesman said prior to the debut here that the new Azera will start in the low $30,000-range when it goes on sale in February 2012.
You can reach Ryan Beene at rbeene@crain.com. -- Follow Ryan on 
