Badge-engineered vehicles in general appear all the time, but most of them don’t resist too long to the problems which usually derive from that, such as being too different from the rest of its automaker’s lineup or creating an internal competition with its “twin brothers”. The aforementioned cases became particularly interesting not only for having dealt with those, but also for having achieved enough success to outlive the lifecycle of the vehicle on which it was based in the first place. Tracker, for instance, stopped being a rebadged Suzuki Vitara years ago and reached a new generation as the Latin-American brother of Trax. The latter, in turn, is one of GM’s trio of small crossovers which came from the very same project.
When it comes to Grandeur, its very first appearance was made in 1986, as a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair. This partnership was maintained in 1992, when Debonair reached its third phase, but ended six years later, due to the withdrawal of the Japanese vehicle. However, since Hyundai wanted to keep offering a luxury sedan, the solution was to create a new one of its own. This one went to Europe and United States as XG, while the original moniker stayed only in South Korea once again. And even after XG’s production was ended, in 2005, Hyundai still found another way to keep Grandeur in line: another car, to be more exact. Using the recently-released Azera meant a complete styling change, but, as you can see, it actually ended very well.
After a bland-looking sedan vaguely inspired on coupes, Azera’s new generation (fourth for Grandeur) received a different variation of Fluidic Sculpture. The new car looks fancier than Sonata and yet sportier than Genesis, and this helped to boost its sales once again – under both names. And since they’ve arrived in 2011, now it’s time for the nips and tucks showed by these pictures. The front bumper was slightly redesigned, featuring its lower grille connected to the auxiliary lights and a new upper grille, while the rear bumper received bigger exhaust tips. The overall result looks more elegant, but not to the point of turning it “a new car”. After debuting during this year’s Busan Motor Show, these updates are expected to appear elsewhere soon, through Azera.
Inside, there were slight updates for the central console too, specially the climate controls, and a whole new 8” touchscreen dedicated to the infotainment central. Besides, the standard equipment list was increased with some electronic safety items: blind-spot detection (BSD), forward-collision alert (FCWS), lane-departure warning (LDWS) and park assist. The powertrain options, on the other hand, were increased. There’s a new turbocharged 2.2L propeller which reaches 202 cv and 45 kgfm, using gasoline, while the GDI 2.4L is capable of 190 cv and 24.6 kgfm burning diesel.
Lançamento no Brasil (28/01/2015)
Visando manter as vendas em alta, a importadora Caoa começa a oferecer a linha renovada do sedã que no Brasil é chamado de Azera. Ele continua vindo da Coreia do Sul, e apresenta retoques na entrada de ar dianteira, em ambos parachoques e nas saídas de escape, além de novas rodas de liga leve aro 18” e a adição de iluminação com LEDs. Por dentro, o desenho do console central ficou mais ergonômico e foi adotada uma central multimídia com tela de 8”. O modelo mantém o motor 3.0 V6 de 250 com câmbio automático de oito marchas, custa 144 mil reais, e traz equipamentos como nove airbags, farois de xenônio, teto solar panorâmico, cortinas para os vidros traseiros, e bancos dianteiros e volante com aquecimento, memória e regulagens elétricas.