South Korea's top-selling sedan just got a mid-cycle refresh, and the upgrades are substantial — new styling, a 17-inch infotainment display, and reworked suspension. The Hyundai Grandeur outsells every other sedan in South Korea and trails only the Kia Sorento among all vehicle types there. None of that matters if you walk into a US Hyundai dealer, because the Grandeur — sold here briefly as the Azera — was discontinued after the 2017 model year and has never returned, — per CarBuzz.
What changed for South Korea
The facelift leads with what Hyundai calls a Shark Nose front end: a thinner full-width LED strip, smaller headlight housings, and a grille merged with the lower air intakes into one wide, chrome-accented panel. Overall length grows 15 mm to 5,050 mm — roughly 199 inches, putting it in large-sedan territory. Side and rear changes are more subtle; the biggest rear update is turn signals now integrated into the LED bar rather than mounted in the bumper.
The 2026 Hyundai Grandeur facelift features a redesigned front end with a thinner LED strip and merged grille-and-intake panel Hyundai calls Shark Nose.
Inside, the headline addition is a 17-inch Pleos Connect screen running Android Automotive OS, combining infotainment and climate controls in one display. A voice assistant called Gleo AI handles more complex commands. Physical buttons survive for core functions. Upper trims add Ergo Motion seats, Nappa leather, rear reclining seats, three-zone climate control, a Bose audio system, and a built-in air purifier — a cabin package that edges noticeably toward Hyundai's own Genesis brand.
The new 17-inch Pleos Connect display combines infotainment and climate controls on a single Android Automotive OS screen.
Hyundai also updated the adaptive suspension — called Preview Electronic Control Suspension — which reads road data via a forward camera and adjusts damper stiffness ahead of bumps. A new Highway Body Motion Control system aims to reduce pitch during acceleration and braking.
Powertrain and pricing — for context only
The engine lineup carries over unchanged: a 198 hp 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder base, a 240 hp 1.6-liter turbocharged plug-in hybrid, and a 300 hp 3.5-liter V6 with optional all-wheel drive. South Korean pricing starts around $28,000 USD at current exchange rates and climbs to roughly $43,000 for the fully loaded V6 AWD Black Ink trim — which already exceeds Genesis G80 entry pricing in that market.
What this means if you're shopping now
It means nothing for a US purchase. Hyundai wound down the Azera nameplate here when Genesis launched as a standalone brand, and the seventh-generation Grandeur was never planned for North America, — per Wikipedia's Grandeur market history. The closest Hyundai sedan sold in the US today is the midsize Sonata. Buyers looking for Hyundai Group luxury in a large sedan format are pointed to the Genesis G80 or G90, both of which are sold at dedicated Genesis retailers.
