Hyundai unveils its new Elantra

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Hyundai has revealed its restyled compact, the Elantra, in its home country of South Korea -- and the same redone model will be coming to the U.S.

Elantra gets a new front-end look, with a large hexagonal grille and narrower headlights to give it a more sophisticated appearance.

The model, called the Avante in South Korea, grows a little less than an inch both in length and width. It also gets more high-strength steel in its body, which should help lighten it, and a raft of new safety features, including automatic emergency braking, automatic high beams, blind spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert.

"With the pursuit to achieve world's best technology, the newly introduced all-new Elantra was developed with concerted efforts of all our employees at Hyundai Motor," said Woong-Chul Yang, vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group's R&D Center during a launch ceremony.

Hyundai says it expects to sell about 50,000 Elantra in South Korea this year and about 700,000 worldwide in its home country and the world, including the U.S., next year.

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