At some point, we all acquire enough random, useless knowledge about cars that we occasionally catch ourselves for a second, wondering “hang on, was that actually a thing?” Sure, there weren’t any 1983 Corvettes sold to consumers, nor was a 1988 El Camino ever a thing, but as factoids get ever more obscure, you almost have to question them. Was the Hyundai Elantra Coupe real, or was it a falsehood planted in our brains?
Let’s take things back eleven years to 2013. The front-wheel-drive compact coupe market had been in atrophy for years, and it was only a matter of time before it died out for good. The Ford Focus coupe, Acura RSX, Chevrolet Cobalt coupe, and a myriad of others had vanished from showrooms, leaving just the Scion tC, Honda Civic Coupe, Kia Forte Koup, Hyundai Veloster, and debatably the Honda CR-Z to battle it out.
However, Hyundai believed there was room for one more. Never mind the fact that the Veloster served a largely similar role despite having three doors, Hyundai thought it needed a proper coupe built in the exact same Ulsan assembly complex as the Veloster, so a proper coupe was born.
The recipe was simple — take the new Elantra, remove two doors, and Bob’s your uncle. No crazy powertrain changes, no wildly different styling, not even a change in wheelbase. The result was a compact coupe that was actually roomier than the sedan, with two-tenths of an inch more rear legroom and four-tenths of an inch more rear hip room.
Not only that, it was also well equipped. You could get an Elantra Coupe with dual-zone climate control, a 360-watt audio system, push-to-start, leather seats, dual-zone climate control, effectively the works. However, there was one small problem — this sporty-looking coupe wasn’t actually that sporty.
See, 2013 was still in the days of The Great Recession recovery, and with an industry-wide focus on fuel economy and lightweighting in mainstream models, Hyundai launched the Elantra Coupe with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine making just 148 horsepower and 131 lb.-ft. of torque. Granted, that was competitive with the base Honda Civic coupe, but the results were still a bit underwhelming. Just ask Motor Trend:
Out on the open road, as my drive partner and fellow MT editor Benson Kong put it: “The Elantra coupe is not a car that should be rushed, but driven at a relaxed pace so onlookers can take in the styling.” We found it to be a perfectly capable car around town and on the freeway, one that does a good job soaking up road imperfections and is relatively quiet and composed at higher speeds.
Fortunately, Hyundai set to work quickly and dropped in a larger, more powerful two-liter engine for 2014, offering a rampaging 173 horsepower. Wawaweewa. However, refinement when using all 173 horsepower wasn’t so brilliant, as Autoweek noted:
And when I switched off Active Eco, a/c and stability and applied the patented Vaughn brake-torqueing technique taught in the finer drag racing schools acrossAmericaI got a 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds. That’s not too bad, really. Except that the whole car sounded like it was going to dynamite at any minute.
Ouch. At the end of 2014, Hyundai pulled the plug on the Elantra Coupe in America, citing no reason in particular. However, it did live on in Canada for one more model year before everyone including Hyundai realized that the Veloster was enough to fulfill Hyundai’s needs in the sporty compact segment.
Here’s the thing — whether or not the Hyundai Elantra Coupe was actually any good doesn’t matter, because it feels fake despite being an entirely real entity. It was crazy to launch a new coupe in 2013, it was crazy to only offer it for two years in America, and because so few were sold and they look so similar to the sedan up front, on the minuscule chance you happened to see one in the wild, you might think someone is screwing with you.
Considering the Elantra is one of Hyundai’s most popular cars, it’s wild to think that only 48 Elantra Coupes are for sale on Autotrader right now, meaning these are some seriously rare machines to see out and about. However, if you happen to randomly remember a two-door Elantra, don’t panic. It’s very real, it’s not propaganda, and it’s not an attempt to discredit your credentials or warp your sense of reality, let alone manufacture consent for the decline of the compact coupe market.
It’s just a weird car, from a time when the market was growing less weird. For now, let’s just be thankful that it existed, because it really had no reason to. The roads are slightly richer with it around, and that’s far from a malicious thing.
(Photo credits: Top graphic tinfoil-hat pup via Depositphotos.com. All other images: Hyundai)
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I remember when this generation Elantra came out thinking it actually looked more conservative than the sedan since they had an identical roofline and somehow you expect more from a coupe even though the sedan seemed very swoopy indeed.
I miss compact coupes. They don’t have to be more powerful than their four door cousins, just… better for single drivers. I had an easier time getting in and out of my Ion Quad Coupe than I do with my Volt, and with the b-pillar further back it was a lot more comfortable to hang my arm out the window. Visibility felt better too. I didn’t need a sports car, but I don’t have kids and am rarely the one to drive my dogs around so two doors is all I ever need.
And they were often pitched as thrifty commuter cars. A family would have one + something larger for hauling, kids, etc.
The SUV craze ended that when families decided the only thing better than one giant vehicle was TWO giant vehicles.
I think price maybe played a factor there. 2-doors were often cheaper than a 4-door if memory serves, thinking like the GM J-bodies that were usually a smidge cheaper in coupe form and sometimes a value leader that was coupe only. The Cobalt coupe started less than a comparable trim sedan initially too.
Then throw in development costs for a lower-volume variant while safety standards were increasing…I remember reading somewhere that Chrysler that they had a choice between developing a 2nd gen Neon coupe or the PT Cruiser, but not both. The PT sold for much more than a Neon coupe would have, so that was surely the right call for the bottom line. Which kind of does lead back to utility vehicles since that was classified as a light truck.