24 cars blue sky: Hyundai Elantra Coupe and GT: The Lightest Cars In The Class, Except When They Aren’t

Ah, the unbearable lightness of being Hyundai! The Elantra GT has arrived, looking quite sleek, quite desirable, and clocking in at 2,784 pounds. That's 151 pounds lighter than the next-best player in the segment — Mazda's similarly Tyson-faced Mazda3 — and
well ahead of the Focus and Golf. The point was driven home by a little show-and-tell, as seen above, to which the Chicago media reacted with thunderous applause. Hear me now, believe me later, and remember it when you are shopping for your next car: The Elantra GT is the lightest car in its class.

The Elantra Coupe? Well…

Buried in the middle of the press materials is the slightly annoying truth: the Elantra Coupe, at 2,687 pounds, is non-trivially heavier than the new Civic Coupe, which weighs 2,594. Against that disadvantage, the Elantra offers fourteen cubic feet of additional interior space, eight more horsepower, six-speed transmissions to play the Civic's five-speeders, a better EPA fuel economy (which is currently estimated at the magic and controversial 40mpg highway) and standard electronic nannies.

Still, if you need the lightest coupe in the segment, the Elantra ain't it. One wonders how much a Civic five-door would weigh.

In his opening speech, Hyundai's CEO, John Krafcik, hinted at something that we were able to confirm: both the GT and Coupe will be assembled exclusively in Korea.

Photography courtesy of Julie Hyde