Toronto 2017: Hyundai Will Introduce All-New 2018 Accent Where It Counts

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

The first complete sighting of the new, fifth-generation, 2018 Hyundai Accent will take place next week at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Canada.

While not exactly Geneva, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York, or Detroit, Toronto is the biggest city in a market where the Accent has historically dominated the subcompact segment.

But it wasn’t easy for Hyundai Canada to land the global reveal.

“In order to secure the debut, our global headquarters took an R&D development mule and made it auto show ready,” says Chad Heard, Hyundai Canada’s senior public relations manager told TTAC earlier today. “That took a couple of weeks and the car landed (eye-wateringly) early this morning in Toronto.”

It’s not difficult to decipher from Hyundai’s teaser video that the new Accent will be every inch a mini-Elantra. The pronounced “cascading” grille and a chunky character line that cuts across the doors just above the door handles are joined to a chip-off-the-old-block silhouette to make the Accent’s familiar resemblance unmistakable.

In the U.S., Accent sales reached record levels in 2016 despite a move away from cars in general and a 3-percent drop in overall market subcompact volume. The Accent plays second fiddle to the Nissan Versa in the United States.

In Canada, where this new Accent debut will occur one week from now on Thursday, February 16, the Accent outsold its two nearest rivals combined in 2016. While subcompact volume slid 13 percent, Accent volume fell just 1 percent, year-over-year.

Yet Hyundai Canada has enjoyed even greater Accent success in the past. Sales in 2016 fell to a three-year low and were down 35 percent compared with the heights achieved in 2008.

The remedy: an all-new design.

Whither the hatchback? Upon its debut six years ago, the fourth-gen Accent was first shown in sedan guise only. Hyundai revealed the hatchback shortly thereafter, in Montreal, which is in Quebec, which is in Canada.

Hyundai’s Chad Heard offered no timeline for the fifth-gen Accent hatchback’s arrival, but did confirm, “There will be a 5-door.”

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

Timothy Cain
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  • Bikegoesbaa Bikegoesbaa on Feb 09, 2017

    All the numbers I can find say that Toronto is more of a "major city" than Detroit is.

    • See 1 previous
    • FreedMike FreedMike on Feb 09, 2017

      "All the numbers I can find say that Toronto is more of a “major city” than Detroit is." ...amazingly enough, this now includes the NHL. Now, who the hell ever thought the Leafs would ever be ahead of the Red Wings?

  • Pig Hater Pig Hater on Feb 10, 2017

    No way I'm sold on a car that can survive easily without a 10 year 10K warranty in the form of a Honda subcompact.

  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
  • Analoggrotto TTAC is full of drug addicts with short memories. Just beside this article is another very beautiful article about how the EV9 was internationally voted by a renowned board of automotive experts who are no doubt highly educated, wealthy and affluent; the best vehicle in entire world. That's planet earth for you numbskulls. Let me repeat: the best vehicle in the world is the Kia EV9. Voted, and sealed, and if you try to deny it Fanny Willis is ready to prosecute you; but she will send her boyfriend instead because she is busy.
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