Hyundai Veloster N, Accent officially dead for 2023
Hyundai has announced its starting lineup for the 2023 model year. While most of the roster stays the same, there are a few notable players that won’t be coming back next year. As with most carmakers, Hyundai’s smallest offerings are getting the axe.
We had our suspicions that the Veloster N was on its last legs. Last summer Hyundai confirmed that it would discontinue the distinctive little hatchback for the 2022 model year in all trims except for the pocket rocket Veloster N. With its base model consigned to the big scrapyard in the sky, the N’s days were numbered.
Hyundai says that with the presence of the Elantra N and Kona N, the Veloster N has been made redundant. Still, as the smallest and lightest of the bunch, the Veloster N boasted a slight performance edge in terms of acceleration and handling. The quirky design also gave it a massive funkiness advantage that the others lack. Unfortunately, fun, sling-able hatchbacks are a dying breed in the U.S., and Hyundai knows that all too well. It killed the Elantra GT for 2021, so perhaps we should be grateful the Veloster N stuck around as long as it did.
Another Hyundai on the chopping block for 2023 is the Accent. The extinction of affordable compacts like the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta and Toyota Yaris has been a recurring theme in the past several years, so the Accent’s axing should also come as no surprise.
However, with the $16,645 Accent gone, the most affordable car in Hyundai’s lineup is now the Venue compact crossover, which starts at $19,000. That’s a fairly big leap for those in the lower tax brackets. Hyundai certainly isn’t alone in abandoning that market, but with automakers spraying a firehose of luxury offerings, something in the market definitely seems askew.
A third car to meet its demise is the Ioniq hybrid and PHEV. We knew this one was coming, and it makes sense. With multiple electrified offerings and the Ioniq becoming an unofficial sub-brand with cars like the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, there was no need to continue the model. Hyundai has plenty of other hybrids like the Elantra, Sonata, Tucson, and Santa Fe to fill that gap, not to mention pure EVs like the Kona and even the hydrogen Nexo.
The rest of the Hyundai lineup marches into 2023 largely unchanged. Only the Palisade gets significant updates during its mid-cycle refresh. Beyond 2023, we have heard that the Sonata will not see another generation. That would leave only the Elantra as the only surviving Hyundai nameplate from before Y2K.
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