Hyundai, Kia eye US top car award for 2nd year

Korea's two top automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. -- are gearing up to win the honor of the North American Car of the Year for two consecutive years as four of their models made the final list, industry sources said Thursday.

Hyundai's large sedan Azera and the Elantra GT hatchback were included in the final list for the highly coveted award released by a panel of 50 car journalists and experts, according to the sources.

Kia's luxury sedan Cadenza, or K7, was also shortlisted for the award, they added. BMW's 3-series sedan, Nissan's Altima and Toyota's Prius were also among the 30 finalists.

The North American Car of the Year is scheduled to be announced January next year at the Detroit Auto Show.

Hyundai's Elantra compact won the award last year, three years after its Genesis sedan received the honor.

The new Santa Fe was named as a candidate for the truck of the year award, becoming Hyundai's first sports utility vehicle (SUV) to make the list, along with BMW's X1 and Ford's Escape. Hyundai's new Santa Fe was introduced last year at a motor show in New York, with 10,423 units sold in Korea last month alone.

"We expect one of our models to receive the award for two years in a row, as our new cars are gaining popularity in the U.S. market," said a company official.

Hyundai Motor Group became the sixth biggest carmaker in the U.S., with its sales hitting 1.13 million units in 2011 in the market. It sold 5.75 million vehicles worldwide last year. (Yonhap)