A Redone Hyundai Elantra Touring is due in U.S. next year!

A redesigned Hyundai Elantra Touring wagon -- not really an Elantra and known to most of the world outside North America as the i30 -- will be brought to the U.S. next year, Hyundai U.S. officials had told Drive On that the new version would come to the U.S. eventually.

The redone i30 -- which is sold in hatchback and wagon models and is a hot seller in Europe -- was first shown last month at the Frankfurt Motor show. And today, the South Korean automaker gave it an official rollout event, complete with models, in Seoul.

While the hatch has never been sold in North America, the wagon, rebadged as the Elantra Touring, has had critical success and modest sales for high value and features in a small wagon.

AFP says Hyundai expects the redone i30 to up the competition against such vehicles as the arch-rival Volkswagen Golf and that it hopes to sell 215,000 of the new model next year -- 190,000 of them outside South Korea.

Following the Frankfurt show, German auto news and shopping research site Auto Motor und Sport reported, citing unnamed sources, that Hyundai plans an i30 hybrid version -- possibly a plug-in -- at least for Europe in 2013 to compete there with Toyota's Prius and other coming electrics.

Source: usatoday.com