Hyundai Lantra

The Hyundai Lantra is the name under which Hyundai sold the first two generations of the Elantra in Europe and Australia, built from autumn 1990 to summer 2000. It reached Germany in mid-1991 as one of the first four Hyundai models offered there. The first generation (J1) was only a notchback sedan, revised in early 1994 when ABS became available and a driver airbag standard, and its engines were licence-built Mitsubishi units. The second generation (J2, RD) arrived in autumn 1995 with Hyundai-developed engines, a wagon followed in spring 1996, and the Hyundai Coupe of 1996 shares its platform and J2 code. A facelift came at the end of 1998. Hyundai used the name Lantra because Lotus did not want a link between Elantra and its Elan model, while South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia used Avante instead; the generation of 2000 took the Elantra name in Europe too.