Vellum Venom: 2012 Hyundai Azera

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Sometimes it’s a little difficult to style a car in a certain genre. Case in point, the “entry level” luxury car segment. And not because the cars are rubbish or the designers simply phoned it in, but because so much equity is on the line…on a budget! This is no audacious Maybach Exelero, here’s an ordinary platform given a few dimensional tweaks, a touch of class and a lot of tacked on “visual presence” in hopes of high volume (compared to an Equus) and high margin (compared to an Accent) successes. And while this Hyundai has one of the toughest acts to follow–after its Sonata brother blew the roof off the world of family car design–it isn’t a dog.

But it’s a good thing Hyundai never called it the Hyundai Grandeur here in North America. There’s nothing especially “grand” about it.

And while all modern car’s massive front ends fail to excite me, this one has a bit of a “whoa” factor. I wasn’t expecing to come up against something as vanilla as a Hyundai Azera and see such a uniform design with such a strong statement. The lumps and bumps have a forward lunging motion, as if the front end wants to pounce on you. The hood’s negative area complements the thicker grille frame below, and the recessed grille teeth below that. The center of the Azera’s schnoz has a downward pointing arrow feel to it, as if to suggest you should stare at its prodigious crotch. Wait…that’s what the arrow means when its on a T-shirt worn by an adolescent male, not the Azera.

Combine that arrow with the tapering, drawn together, feel of the sides and the whole face has a lot of forward motion to it. Then again, it also looks like a Lexus LS with E60 BMW headlights. Which is the better assessment? Your call, son.

A close up of how the hood’s negative area complements the grille’s design. Or vice versa. No matter, it’s a pretty neat bit of styling.

The chrome-rimmed fog lights do a fine job dressing up the package, without actually drawing attention to themselves. Nice job, Hyundai!

Yup, that there is some E60 BMW in this here headlight, which is pretty shameful. The Sonata did such a good job looking like nothing else on the planet, and it’s a cheaper car! I expect more for a snooty, upscale product. Then again, note the chrome flashing that starts from said BMW lighting pod.

On the plus side, the chrome flashing turns into a character line down the bodyside! Me likey, that reeks of super classy, “entry-level” Luxury!

And that long strip of chrome accentuates a rather fetching greenhouse…this certainly looks more expensive than a Sonata. Too bad the new Chevy Impala just ruined this look for everyone, outside of the fleet departments that will be thrilled to see these in full force.

A little more chrome down unda, Captain! This isn’t the first time we’ve seen it, and it still looks good. Maybe add a badge down there, a la the outgoing Lexus GS Hybrid? This is entry level luxury after all, how about we make it a Royale Brougham? What a super classy idea!

Another shot of the chrome, albeit at a less flattering angle. More importantly, dig deeper and you see how blocky and clumsy that A-pillar truly is! Where are my beer goggles? Oh right, Hyundai gave us the little black triangle in front of the door, to extend the DLO and cheat on the Azera’s greenhouse sleekosity. More to the point, DLO FAIL!

Hey, is that a real piece of glass, instead of a plastic triangle? DLO FTW, son!

Also note how strong the shoulder line is above the door handle, going back to the trunk. The Azera is on its way into turning into a pre-war luxury sedan with voluptuous fenders!

So when your greenhouse has a DLO made of both WIN and FAIL, what do you have? I do like the touch of tumblehome and the angry (light) slash in the side mirror.

If the Azera wasn’t so goshdarn tall, this green house would be Talbot-Lago levels of stunning. Oh, how I lament the days of non-CUV styled sedans.

The lines are clean, the body motions are strong yet understated…this would be quite the looker if someone took out 1-2″ of sheet metal from the center. Considering the rear end design, it would also make it a credible threat to the street presence of an Aston Martin…except Ford already has that threat handled with the upcoming Fusion-Mondeo sedan.

This is where I show my bias to the cars I grew up with and admired: along with the outgoing model, I am very excited to see full width lighting pods come back into vogue. With the tight fitting bumper, Lexus-like exhaust pipes and spoiler-shaped decklid, the Azera banishes the goofy amoeba taillights and chrome license plate mustache to a special place in hell: the same place that DLO FAIL belongs.

I like the tiers in the sheetmetal as they provide a neat bit of surface tension…oh wait…are those Mercedes door handles? First the BMW headlights and now this…Hyundai’s lack of creativity here is saddening. At least move the chrome in the middle so the handle doesn’t look like a complete rip-off of zee Germans!

Back to my surface tension remark. Unlike the new 3-series, the Azera isn’t flexing its muscles: it’s naturally fit. If only the canvas wasn’t so damn tall, these contours would really shine…like I bet they did on vellum. You know, before the design was translated onto the canvas of a near luxury, platform-shared vehicle. Oh well, Ain’t No Shame in This Game!

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • Anyone who thinks the Sonata is cute will LOVE the Azera. I drove it and rode in it as a passenger to fully test it. GREAT CAR. It isn't as solid a product as the Sonata, but, if you need a "bigger Sonata", this is what you want instead of the Genesis.

  • Outback_ute Outback_ute on Apr 15, 2012

    I agree with bd2, the back half is quite nice (although in a large sedan, rear seat headroom should be more of a priority), but the front is to arrow-like, particularly the windshield is laid back too much, which ruins visibility and is responsible for both the DLO Fail and bringing the windshield header rail uncomfortably close to the driver's head, again impinging on the feel of space. I can agree with the view that the side sculpting is a touch overdone, hard to judge from photos. I also agree with Sajeev that the chrome highlight in the door handles would be better in the centre. One day the coupe-roofline trend will pass, or at least there is room for a more practical/formal roofline as per the E-class/CLS pairing. I suppose it depends on whether the rear seats are ever going to be used, but wouldn't that be the reason most people buy a large sedan?

  • Dukeisduke Is the Volvo EX30 even on sale yet? It was pulled from the NACTOY awards because they were having software problems with the vehicle.
  • Wjtinfwb If you've only got 5k to spend on transportation, I cannot imagine a worse way to spend it than on a GM orphan from Sweden that's 15 years old with 150k on the clock and limited plus expensive parts availability and dwindling techs who'd even want to work on it. Go find a similar vintage Camry or Accord with 150k miles or even a Ford or a Chevy, whatever. Hell, even an old Jaguar is less of a crapshoot than a Saab. At least you can still get parts.
  • Kwik_Shift Brands that were considered from China include BYD, Dayun, Great Wall Motors, Maxus, Nio, Omoda/Chery, Seres, XPeng, and Zeekr. KG Mobility from South Korea also made the list of candidates.That's a lot of car companies from there ready to head here.
  • Analoggrotto Clean sweep and unanimous victory for the world affluence engine of 22nd century : Hyundai/Kia/Genesis. Toyota and Lexus, for 120 years of history have not been able to capture the zenith superlative status of Hyundai Motor Corporation the most awarded, decorated and revered automotive corporation in the history of historical. Featuring best ever, first ever and greatest ever e-ATPs the Hyundai Genesis Kia lineup is posed to become the envy of every country club, ivy league college and fortune 500 corporation in the world. I've been taking a roadtrip in my loaner Elantra N, visiting colleges from east to west, elite universities of higher learning to inspect their parking lots. WHat did I find? Leagues of Genesis models, outnumbering Lexus 3 to 1. When I interviewed faculty and staff at these places of greater learning, their response was unanimous : they chose HMC for the ATPs.
  • Mikey 2019 Chevy Impala Premier FWD with 20 inch factory Bridgestones. I'm looking at replacing tires at the 65,000 KLM's (40,000 miles ) mark ....It doesn't thrill me .. I'm pricing Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires ouch !! ..Up here in Canuckastan ....Big $$$$$
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