NY TIMES Reviews 2006 Sonnata

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Behind the Wheel

2006 Hyundai Sonata: Filling the Camry's Rearview Mirror Benefiting from a thorough redesign, the Sonata has risen toward the top of the class.

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly Single-Page Save Article By CHERYL JENSEN Published: November 6, 2005 MILLERSBURG, Ohio

DETROIT'S auto executives have plenty to fret about, including serious threats to their domestic companies from seemingly unstoppable Japanese rivals. But what keeps the leaders of Toyota, Honda and Nissan up at night?

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The Heart of the Midsize Market

Reading the Tea Leaves on Quality (November 6, 2005) High on the list must be Hyundai, a competitive juggernaut from South Korea that keeps gaining, in sales and perceptions, with each new or redesigned model that it rolls onto American roads. Its latest car, the redesigned 2006 Sonata, could serve as a diorama for the company's remarkable progress over the last decade - and a warning shot to Japan's auto industry that the Koreans have learned to play hardball.

While the previous Sonata was a clear imitation of the big-selling class leaders, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the new one is truly competitive with those cars in almost every way. It also raises the bar among mainstream midsize cars in the safety features it includes on all versions.

The car was redesigned with American tastes in mind, with contributions from Hyundai's design centers in California and Michigan. V-6 models are built at a new plant in Montgomery, Ala., though four-cylinder cars are assembled in South Korea.

Not only has this Korean company followed the playbook that the Japanese used to steal market share from Detroit - making steady improvements in quality and value, and branching out from inexpensive entry-level cars to more pricey, more profitable models - it is also following the ...

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