Hyundai has noticed an alarming trend: the needless wasting of perfectly good asterisks on window stickers all over the country.
The Korean automaker notes that some competitors create a special trim level for certain models that’s designed specifically to score a great fuel mileage rating from the EPA, while the other volume trim levels return a few miles per gallon less across the board. Since Hyundai won’t name names, we’ll do it for them: Chevrolet Cruze (Eco) and Ford Fiesta (SFE). Every single version of the 2011 Elantra, however, will achieve 40 mpg, as Hyundai likes to keep reminding us. No asterisks required.
It also bears mentioning that starting with the month of November, 2010, Hyundai is the first automaker to specify the actual number of vehicles it sells that achieve or exceed the 40-mpg benchmark on its monthly sales report. For those keeping track, the figure from this past November was 192 vehicles – expect that number to rise dramatically in the coming months when the new Elantra goes on sale.
Great fuel economy is only one part of a much larger puzzle to marketplace success. Fortunately, we’ll have a First Drive report of the new 2011 Elantra to share in short order, so we’ll have a better understanding of what, if any, concessions were made to manage its laudable efficiency metrics. Stay tuned for that, and check out Hyundai’s Save the Asterisks video after the break.
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