The all-new Hyundai Sonata is one sharp-looking car and the automaker is also offering a sporty N Line trim for folks who want a little more pizzaz in their mid-size sedan. However, don’t fall for any Hyundai dealer that tries to say this is some rare car as an excuse to offer a crappy deal.
Recently, I was working with a client in the Las Vegas metro, which is not the easiest place to shop for cars, and he was set on getting a new Sonata N Line. He tried out the Accord, Mazda6, and Camry and decided the sporty Sonata was the best combination of fun, comfort, and style. His concern was that since it was an all-new model that dealers were not going to be motivated to discount.
We were not surprised to find a fairly limited inventory considering the N Line just landed on dealer lots, but what was a bit shocking is that a few stores wanted over MSRP on a mid-size sedan. Now had the dealers said something along the lines of “We don’t have many of these and they are moving fast, so we aren’t motivated to discount them.” That would have been understandable, instead, we spoke with several dealers who claimed that Hyundai isn’t going to make that many N Lines Sonatas and since it was a “limited production” it, therefore, commands a markup.
One store even went so far as to put that in writing, but at least they were willing to sell it without the markup.
Of course, the Sonata N Line is not a “special edition” but rather just another trim within the Sonata lineup like SE, SEL, and Limited. A representative from Hyundai Corporate confirms this -
Our Sonata N Line national planning mix is roughly 10%, which we do not consider limited production nationally.
My team did find a dealer in Henderson, NV, that was willing to go under MSRP before rebates, likely because they understood that this is just a “regular car” and treating it like some collector’s item is going to result in a Sonata sitting on their lot collecting dust. But this “limited production” excuse is just another in a long line of lies that dealers use to convince buyers to pay more than they should.