Hyundai Sonata 2023: facelifted Toyota Camry-rival spotted filming in Korea, likely for Australia

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Hyundai’s facelifted Sonata sedan appears to have been spotted whilst filming for a commercial in Korea. 

Photos of what appear to be the updated Sonata come courtesy of KoreanCarBlog, which show revised front and rear ends. 

Chasing Cars understands that it will be coming to Australia within the year, where it will come up against the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord in the midsize car segment. 

Hyundai first launched the eighth-generation Sonata back in 2019, so given an expected seven-year lifecycle of a model, it would make sense to see an update land in the near future. 

What’s new for the Hyundai Sonata?

Despite the blurriness of the images, it’s clear that the Sonata is wearing a front end that’s quite similar to that of the Korean-market Hyundai Grandeur. 

The similarities lie in the LED strip that stretches across the entire bonnet, and the headlights that are integrated into the front bumper, similar to the Staria van and inbound fully electric Ioniq 7 large SUV.

At the rear, the styling is quite a departure from the Grandeur and seems to fall in line with the outgoing Sonata. 

Despite this, Hyundai’s new design language of sharp angles and an intricate tail light design is present. 

What will power the new Sonata?

Considering that this is just a facelift upon Hyundai’s eighth-generation Sonata, we can assume that the engine will carry over from the N-Line that’s sold locally. 

If this is the case, the updated Sonata will make use of a 2.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder petrol engine that makes 213kW and 422Nm of torque. 

While Hyundai Australia exclusively sells the Sonata in N-Line form, it’s worth noting that in international markets such as Korea, a naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre petrol, and a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol are the two other engine options. 

Though the current Sonata makes use of an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, it wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibility to see it move to a traditional torque converter automatic, in the same way that the updated Kia Seltos recently did. 

Will Australia get the updated Hyundai Sonata?

With the surge in popularity of SUVs over the past decade or so, the Sonata’s midsize car segment is the one that seems to have been hit the hardest. 

For example, Hyundai Australia only sold 536 Sonatas throughout 2022, whereas over 21,000 i30s were sold throughout the same time period. 

Despite this, Hyundai’s resilience with the Sonata is evident, considering the current car has been on sale locally since 2021, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see this facelifted variant land within the year.