During a brief, yet significant internal celebration the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant watched its 1,000,000th Alabama-built Sonata roll off the line. The one-millionth car was a 2012 limited edition 2.0 turbo with radiant silver finish. Team members at the Alabama plan cheered as President and CEO Young Deuk Lim drove the Sonata off the quality inspection line.

“I am so proud of everything our Team Members have accomplished in the past six years, eclipsing 1,000,000 total vehicles manufactured in November 2009, producing more than 300,000 vehicles in 2010 and now our 1,000,000th Sonata,” said President Lim.

The Hyundai Sonata’s enormous popularity over the past year has contributed to the plant operating beyond its original capacity of 300,000 units for nearly 2 years. The Alabama plant currently only produces the Elantra and Sonata.  Both vehicles have over gone major re-designs in the last 2 years and have become very popular with U.S. consumers.

Celebrating the 1,000,000th milestone “provides an opportunity to celebrate our many achievements and take pride in knowing our Hyundai spirit is alive and ready to reach any goal we set for ourselves,” according to President Lim. You can expect Hyundai to continue raising the bar on its vehicles and creating cars and crossovers the American consumer wants to drive.