Hyundai-Kia is one of the largest manufacturer in the world, surpassing even Renault-Nissan and is looking to take on the might of the big three as well. Holding key to these ambitions will will require Hyundai to bring in newwer technologies and more exciting cars. Every manufacturer has announced a hybrid or some alternate fuel vehicle or something of the same sort and Hyundai is no different. Hyundai has announced that it will launch Hybrid technology in its cars and presently the Sonata is under consideration.
The prototypes will be hitting the roads in November this year for extensive road testing. The Hybrid technology is most likely to debut in the next generation Sonata and is said to feature cutting-edge lithium-ion battery technology. It is interesting to note that the car will not be a plug-in hybrid and is likely to feature parallel hybrid technology with the electric motor providing the additional boost.
No specific launch date has been announced but the car is expected to debut in the next generation Sonata due out in 2010-2011. It will be launched in USA and EU followed by launch in other countries. This hybrid will, no doubt, go head-to-head against gasoline-electric mid-size offerings from Toyota, Chevrolet, and Nissan.
Source : NextAutos