The Hyundai Accent (), or Hyundai Verna (현대 베르나) is a subcompact car produced by Hyundai. In Australia, the first generation models carried over the Hyundai Excel name used by the Accent's predecessor. The Accent was replaced in 2000 by the Hyundai Verna in South Korea, although most international markets, including the US, retained the "Accent" name. The "Accent" name is an acronym of Advanced Compact Car of Epoch-making New Technology.
The Accent is produced for the Chinese market by Beijing Hyundai Co., a joint venture with Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. For the Russian market it was assembled by the TagAZ plant in Taganrog until 2011, and since 2011 it was assembled by the HMMR plant in Saint Petersburg and sold under the new name Hyundai Solaris. In Mexico, the Accent was marketed until 2014 by Chrysler as the Dodge Attitude, previously known as the Verna by Dodge. In Venezuela, Chrysler marketed these models as the Dodge Brisa until 2006. The Brisa was assembled by Mitsubishi Motors at its plant in Barcelona, Venezuela. Since 2002, the Accent had been the longest-running small family car sold in North America. In Puerto Rico, the second and third generations were sold as the Hyundai Brio.
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First generation (X3; 1994)
The Hyundai Accent (X3) was introduced as a replacement for the Excel in 1994 for the 1995 model year. It continued to be called Dodge Brisa in Venezuela or Hyundai Excel in some markets, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Indonesia and Australia. In France, it was called the Hyundai Pony, in Indonesia, the pre-facelift model was called as Bimantara Cakra and in China, it was called the Kia Qianlima.
In 1998, Hyundai created a joint venture with Romanian manufacturer Dacia to produce the Accent in Romania, at Dacia's Mioveni plant. Unfortunately, the deal failed and Dacia was bought by Renault.
Markets Australia Australian cars were released in November 1994 available in Sprint and GX trims (three-door liftback) or LX and GLX trims (four-door sedan and five-door liftback). The upper-specification models (GX and GLX) had full cloth interior (as opposed to vinyl seat backings), height and lumbar support adjustments on the driver's seat, four-speaker sound system (instead of two), passenger vanity mirror, a tachometer, and power antenna as standard. GX three-doors also had a standard rear spoiler, while power steering was standard on all but the Sprint. There were also some special editions—the Classique sedan in 1995 and 1996 with anti-lock brakes and the Sportz in 1999 and 2000 with alloy wheels and a rear spoiler. The overwhelming majority sold were the Sprint three-door, enticing buyers with free air-conditioning, driveaway pricing and from late 1998, standard power steering.
The facelift arrived in Australia in April 1997 with accompanying trim changes. The engine was a 1.5-litre G4EK SOHC unit with . From November 1997 onwards, this was upgraded to a twin cam (DOHC) G4FK version with at 6000 rpm and torque of at 4000 rpm. A double overhead cam (DOHC) engine was also available in America in the Accent GT but made a more-powerful at 6000 rpm instead. X3s with the DOHC engine are badged "Twin Cam".
In Australia, the X3 proved so popular (due to its reliability and low price) that it was the third best-selling vehicle in the country in both 1996 and 1998. In the latter year, it achieved more than 44,000 sales (a 5.5% share of the total market), a record figure at the time for an imported car. It was the country's top-selling model in June 1998, briefly displacing the Holden Commodore and other large cars that had traditionally dominated the Australian sales charts. Between 1994 and 2000, some 200,000 X3s were sold in Australia, making it arguably the most successful imported vehicle in the country's history.
United Kingdom The Accent was sold in saloon (sedan), liftback, and coupé form in the UK, with a choice of three engines for each: a 1.3 12v (85 hp), 1.5 12v (92 hp) and a 1.5 16v (105 hp) petrol. There was no diesel option. A GSi spec car was the top-specification Accent. The MVi-spec coupé version won particular praise for its handling agility in the UK. Although the Accent was cheap to buy and insure, its engines were quite thirsty; the 1.5-litre returned average according to list figures.
United States In the US, although manuals exist for Accents before and after 1999, a manual for 1999 Hyundai Accent has not been published. Additionally, owners of the 1999 model were informed by their dealers that the power output of the 1.5-litre engine was in fact rated at . Only the 3-door Liftback and 4-door sedan were offered.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, the Accent was assembled locally and marketed as the Bimantara Cakra from 1996 to 1998 (alongside the Bimantara Nenggala/Hyundai Elantra) and only available as a 4-door sedan and powered by a fuel injected 1.5-litre 12-valve engine, mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. After the 1997 Asian financial crisis that affected Indonesia in 1998, Bimantara went bankrupt and the production facilities were taken over by Hyundai (also the first time Hyundai started selling their cars with their own brand in Indonesia) and reintroduced the Cakra as Accent, still with the same 1.5-litre 12-valve engine but with the facelifted model and an additional 4-speed automatic transmission variant from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2006, the sedan was sold together with the second generation Accent (sold as Hyundai Verna) but as Hyundai Excel, specially for taxi fleets.
China In China, the Hyundai Excel was branded as the Kia Qianlima under Dongfeng Yueda Kia. It came with either a 1.3-litre SOHC engine or a 1.6-litre engine DOHC engine. Production ran from December 2002 until November 2006. It had similar styling to the regular Hyundai Excel until it was given a facelift in 2005 featuring a new grille and foglamps. Trim levels included the 1.3 DLX, 1.3L GL (Manual), 1.3L GL (Automatic), 1.6 GLS (Manual) and the 1.6 GLS (Automatic). The only body style available was the 4-door sedan.
Safety The 1998 Hyundai Accent was crash-tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme and showed rather poor performance, scoring only 4 points out of 16 for frontal impact, and receiving 2 stars for adult occupants and 2 stars for pedestrians. The passenger compartment became unstable in the crash test.It was determined that there was an unacceptably high risk of chest injury during side impact crash, as a result, the car would not meet the minimum legal requirement in 1999. The Swedish insurance company, Folksam, rates the 1st-gen Accent as one of the safest cars in its weight class.
Second generation (LC; 1999)
The redesigned 1999 Accent (LC) sported a more angular body and increased dimensions. It received a minor facelift in 2003, and was given the model code LC2. When the Accent sedan underwent a 2006 redesign, the liftback continued on sale during 2006 only in Canada, since the liftback skipped the 2006 model year for the United States. But for Korea, it was the first model with the new nameplate: Verna.
The Accent got revised 1.3 and 1.5-litre engines, featuring various improvements to lower noise, vibration, and harshness. A 1.6-litre DOHC 16-valve replaced the 1.5-litre from 2001, with the 1.5 continuing to be available in some markets. This Accent was also the first to get a diesel version, with a 1.5-litre three-cylinder direct injection turbodiesel with four valves per cylinder, which was badged CRDi.
Trim levels were GSi, CDX and MVi: this was standard on most export versions, although some European markets had their own designations with names like Dynamic Version etc. Some markets used LS and GLS.
Markets North America In North America, the Accent was available in GL, GLS and GT trim levels only, with the 1.5-litre engine at first, then the 1.6-litre engine from 2002. The GT version was similar to the MVi version marketed in Europe and Oceania, although the body kit was not as overtly hot hatch styled.
During 2003 in Canada, the liftback was offered as a GS or GSi with a 1.5 L or 1.6 L engine, respectively. In 2004 the GS trim was equipped with the 1.6 L engine.
Russia It was sold in Russia until 2011 as the Hyundai Accent side-by-side with the third generation model which was sold as the Hyundai Solaris.
India It was launched in India in October 1999 as the "Accent" and was still in production after some minor facelifts;the car was phased out in 2013 for local market. It has been restyled twice – in 2004 and 2010 – and is mated with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine matched to a five-speed manual gearbox.
Egypt In Egypt, it still remains on sale as of January 2019.
Indonesia In Indonesia, it was sold from 2001 to 2012 and marketed under three different names. At first it was marketed in a 4-door body style as "Accent Verna" (2001–2007), available with three trim levels, G, GL and GLS. In 2005, a facelifted version based from G trim was sold for taxi fleet as "Excel II". Later from 2007, both the Accent Verna and Excel II 4-door sedans were replaced with a 5-door liftback body style, sold until 2012 as the "Avega."
Engines ModelPowerTorque0–Top speedPetrol1.3L 12-valve SOHC Alpha I41.5L 12-valve SOHC Alpha I4 @5500 rpm @2900 rpm12.0 sec1.5L 16-valve DOHC Alpha I411.6 sec1.6L 16-valve DOHC Alpha I410.9 secDiesel1.5L CRDi (R 315) I314.0 sec From 2003 to 2005, cars equipped with the 1.3L engine and air conditioning are rated at rather than being uprated to .
Safety A pre-2003 model (a three-door liftback) was crash tested by Australian Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) under the rules as adopted by Euro NCAP. It scored 10.76 out of 16 points for frontal offset impact and 10.96 out of 16 in the side impact test.
The same un-restyled model, a four-door sedan had been crash tested by Russian magazine Autoreview in 2005. Test was carried out to the Euro NCAP regulations. Despite the lack of airbags (which are not available in the cheapest version of Accent on the Russian market) it scored 9.9 of 16 for frontal impact.
The 2003 restyled model was tested by ANCAP as well. The three-door liftback scored 9.19 of 16 points for frontal impact and 9.76 out of 16 in the side impact crash test.
Third generation (MC; 2005)
Hyundai introduced a new-generation Accent (MC) at the 2005 New York International Auto Show. A new exterior, larger interior, and CVVT engine are the notable features.
A single trim level, GLS, was available in the US for the sedan. Hyundai began selling the 3-door hatchback in the United States during the spring 2006 as a 2007 model year vehicle. The 3-door was available in two trims – GS and SE. In 2010, Forbes named the Accent amongst the ten worst cars for depreciation.
In Europe, this model was heavily promoted by the motoring press, and even Hyundai themselves, as a "stopgap" model – that it was intended merely to plug the gap in Hyundai's range until a brand new small family car was launched in 2007. The new car, the Hyundai i30, replaced both the Accent and the larger Hyundai Elantra. The name change helped to distance the new model from the budget reputation of the Accent, and also to position the car in the small family hatchback sector – something the Accent was slightly too small to do, and the Elantra too large. The Accent continued to be sold in the U.S. in 2008 with an instrument panel overhaul and standard rear cupholders in the SE model.
In 2008, Hyundai Accent received the lowest number of problems per 100 vehicles among compact multi-activity vehicles in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study. The study was based on responses from over 52,000 original owners of 2005 model year vehicles, measuring more than 250 models across several brands. The proprietary study's results are based on experiences and perceptions of owners surveyed in January to April 2008.