Do you like triangles? Well, if yes, then you’ll certainly like the new Hyundai Elantra. Undergoing the knife for the 2019 model year, Hyundai’s compact car gets an extensively re-designed interior, tweaked interior, and much more safety features than ever before.

Outside, Hyundai ripped out the entire front and rear ends creating this unmistakably sharp, albeit controversial new design for 2019. The Elantra features pointy headlights that connect to the pointy grille that extends to the pointy bumpers. If these aren’t pointy enough, even the front fog lights have been reshaped into triangles. The rear-end sees the same dramatic re-design with an entirely new back-end and trunk.



Inside, the entire center console is new as are the gauges (with a checkered flag motif on the Sport), air vents, and infotainment and climate controls. The redesign also happens to incorporate more storage options compared to the previous Elantra.

In terms of powerplant, the 2019 Elantra manages to stay roughly the same as before. For the North American market where it’ll start sales by the fourth quarter of this year, it gets the same 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine with 147 horsepower while the Eco variants are powered by a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine with 128 horsepower. Both engines are mated to a 7-speed dual clutch automatic.



The biggest upgrade of the Elantra though is its safety package. In the US, SmartSense will be made available in 75 percent of all available trim levels. This combines technologies such as Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Blindspot Collision Warning, Lane Keep Assist, and Driver Attention Alert.

For those who want something a bit more spirited, an aptly named Elantra Sport will also join the line-up. It boasts 195 horsepower and 264 Nm of torque from its 1.6-liter turbocharged engine. It will also benefit from better handling with its unique multi-link independent rear suspension. It also gets sports seats, a flat-bottomed steering wheel, and even more unique exterior and interior trimmings.



Currently, there’s no news yet on when distributor Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) will bring in the redesigned Elantra. Given they’ve been getting good traction from the current (pre-facelifted) model, expect their stocks to be depleted by around the end of the year. The earliest time for the 2019 Elantra to arrive would probably be first quarter of 2019, perhaps in time for a Manila International Auto Show preview.