Working an Angle: 2021 Hyundai Elantra Teased

Nothing says Hollywood like the compact Hyundai Elantra, apparently. That’s where the next-generation Elantra sedan will make its debut, and you can bet hand sanitizer will be on hand at the March 17th world premiere. Global audiences are invited to tune in from their hermetically sealed apartments.

As you can see here, the automaker’s best-selling model stands to gain no shortage of creases in its bid to reclaim customers.

In teasing the upcoming sedan, Hyundai went to great lengths to telegraph the model’s sporting pretensions. Calling it a “four-door coupe,” the automaker notes that the Elantra will grow longer, lower, and wider in its future form. And speaking of form, that design language has a name: Parametric Dynamics.

You’ve already forgotten it, we know.

Sharp-edged even in areas that would largely be featureless and sporting a full-width tail lamp assembly, the 2021 Elantra aims to fight back against the strong-selling Honda Civic and revamped-for-2020 Toyota Corolla. Those models managed to maintain or grow their sales in 2019; the Elantra didn’t. Can “edgy and aggressive” styling arrest the model’s decline? Time will tell.

Between the Elantra sedan and Elantra GT hatch, sales of Hyundai’s compact nameplate fell 12.6 percent last year. The GT also stands to gain a visual refresh for the coming model year.

Few details were on offer from Hyundai, though a peak at the cabin shows the brand’s new (and not-unattractive) Immersive Cocoon layout and intertwined infotainment and gauge cluster screens. It’s a minimalist and grown-up look that calls to mind the upscale interiors of recent Mazdas.

Power specs should be on hand at the debut, though don’t hold your breath for a return of the manual transmission. That gearbox bowed out for the 2020 model year.

[Images: Hyundai]