Korea move

Sonata saloons have never really stood out in Hong Kong traffic, but Hyundai is turning heads worldwide. The South Korean marque's Europe-designed i30 is an export hit and its boffins regularly impress at international motor shows.

Last September Hyundai introduced its third-generation fuel-cell electric vehicle, i-Blue, to Frankfurt, and in March it unveiled the 3.8-litre, 310 horsepower Genesis, its first supercar, in New York. And having wowed greenies in Geneva with the new seating and fuel efficiency of the HED-5 i-mode six-seater, the marque next month unveils its i10, a city car ostensibly for Europe fitted with a homemade 1.2-litre Kappa engine that promises to drink just five litres of fuel per 100km for a carbon dioxide spew of 119g/km. And there was even talk on the newswires this week of Hyundai pushing this India-made sipper to the credit-crunched US as the marque and its associate Kia aim to corner 9 per cent of the global car market by 2010.

Hyundai is equally ambitious for the new-look Sonata. Previous versions over the past 20 years have been worthily built, adequately comfy, competitively priced commutes. The 2002 redesign was quaintly plush with conjoined Mercedes-Benz-style headlights and the past generation was such a fine, no-nonsense runabout that I wasn't surprised to learn that the Hong Kong government bought 'around 100' two-litre units for its fleet.

But Hyundai wants the key to the executive car park and the new Sonata is starting to adopt Lexus IS-like airs, as you might expect of a saloon that will be branded in Europe as the i40.

Made in Asan, South Korea, the four-door car has a Lexus-like chrome grille, a wider front bumper and a sportier airdam, along with bigger, slittier Lexus IS-style headlamp clusters and slimmer side mouldings. Image-conscious Hong Kong tycoons and socialites with little lapdogs would look just as good in a Sonata as in a Volvo S40 or an Audi A4.

But Hyundai might have wished that its Hong Kong dealer hadn't left me alone with the test car. Hyundai Hong Kong's showroom boys have a meeting in the morning and I am ushered into the rain for a solo run with the South Korean marque's lunge at the Toyota Camry (from HK$211,080), Honda Accord (HK$275,880) and Mazda6 (HK$255,990). But I wish someone had told me how to work the Sonata's mirrors before I set off, because I realise too late that they're still tucked into the flanks of the car, and that's a worry in teeming Causeway Bay traffic.