Hyundai Elantra a North American Car of the Year finalist

The 2021 Elantra

The 2021 Hyundai Elantra has been named a finalist in the 2021 North American Car of the Year awards.

The seventh-generation Elantra also took home a Good Design award, one of four Hyundai products to do so in 2020. The other Hyundai items taking home the Good Design award are the 45 and Prophecy EV vehicles and the Hi-Charger, an ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure.

The latest Elantra offers a new look and feel thanks to its Parametric Dynamics design elements, including its jewel-pattern grille and H-tail lamp that creates a “flying H” logo-like shape. On the inside, the 2021 Elantra sports a 10-inch information display cluster and infotainment center.

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To be chosen as a finalist for North American Car of the Year, 50 jurors from print, online, radio and broadcast media in the U.S. and Canada based the finalists on segment leadership, innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. The winner will be announced in January.

To receive a Good Design award, manufacturers’ products are judged on design and manufacturing innovation — those who have chosen a new director and pushed the envelope for competitive products in the market.

The Hyundai Elantra is one of the vehicles produced at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery. The $1.8 billion automotive manufacturing facility is one of the company’s most advanced locations, employing more than 3,000 people manufacturing Sonata and Elantra sedans, and Santa Fe SUV. In the near future, the plant will begin producing the Santa Cruz and Tucson SUVs.

The announcement of the Santa Cruz vehicle being added to the plant came in late 2019, for the 2021 vehicle model. During the announcement, Hyundai also announced a $410 million expansion project at the plant that is expected to add 200 jobs.

In November 2020, the company announced the Tucson addition to the plant, for the 2022 model. One of its most popular models, this addition to the Montgomery plant will allow the company to produce the majority of Tucson’s purchased in the United States to come from Alabama.

With these additions, the Alabama location will now produce five vehicles. It has a current capacity to produce 400,000 vehicles a year.

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