Hyundai’s HB20 named Brazil car of the year

Hyundai Motor’s new Brazil-only hatchback, HB20, has recently won the Car of the Year award in the Latin country, just one month since its official debut there, company officials said Thursday.

Brazil’s auto magazine Auto Esporte, which has named the best car of the year since 1966, gave the top honor to Hyundai’s HB20 among the five finalists, including Chevrolet’s Sonic, Citroen’s C3, Pugeot’s 308 and Toyota’s Etios.

The flex-fuel model HB20 was exclusively developed for the Brazilian market and has been produced at the Korean carmaker’s first manufacturing plant in Brazil since September. Car sales started on Oct. 10.

Hyundai, which will celebrate the completion of its first Brazil factory on Friday, expected that winning the Car of the Year Award could give momentum for its future car sales in the market.

“We will further step up the offensive in the Brazilian market with future launches of HB20-based models such as a sedan and an SUV-style version,” said a Hyundai spokesperson.

By Lee Ji-yoon  (jylee@heraldcorp.com)