In the realm of U.S. automotive sales, 8% is a magic number. When an automaker hits 8%, they know they’ve become one of the big guns. Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, Dodge and Nissan have all made it, and 2011 is expected to be Hyundai’s year.

So sayeth market research firm Polk, and I’m tempted to agree. Hyundai and its partner-brand / internal rival Kia have steadily been evolving into truly world-class carmakers. They’re keenly priced, inoffensive to look at and comprehensively covered quality-wise – everything the vast majority of new car buyers want in this day and age.

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With fuel prices on the rise again, efficient sub-compact models like the Accent are coming back to the spotlight. At the 2011 New York Auto Show, the South Korean automaker pulled the wraps off its latest iteration of the Accent in U.S.-spec. Slated to hit dealerships this summer, the 2012 Accent is offered in both five-door hatchback and four-door saloon body styles and promises to deliver a best-in class fuel economy of 30mpg city and 40 mpg highway.

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Unless Hyundai’s sneak peek has something to do with the interior décor of the 2012 Accent shown at the annual Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, there’s really not much to say about the South Korean firm’s cropped photo-posting on Twitter.

True, Hyundai will premiere its new sub-compact for the first time in the USA at the upcoming New York International Auto Show, but it won’t be a first per se as we’ve seen the new car in Beijing, in Moscow with a different name and face and more recently, at the 2011 Montreal Auto Show in January (see the video after the break).

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In a very interesting melding of the virtual and real world, Hyundai has crafted a new viral ad to showcase its 2012 Accent sub-compact and highlight the brand’s new slogan “New Thinking. New Possibilities.". What makes this futuristic video intriguing is that the viral includes an actual 2012 Hyundai Accent suspended on a wall with a driver walking down the side to get into the car. At the same time, we see a film being projected on the wall creating an eye-catching combo.

See both the shorter and full version of Hyundai’s new viral of the 2012 Accent right after the jump.

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Hyundai is continuing its ambitious plan to further increase global sales with the start of production at its first factory in Russia located at Saint Petersburg. The company’s sixth newest overseas assembly plant will make the Solaris, a subcompact sedan we will come to know as the new Accent.

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What was shown as the Concept RB at Moscow's International Motor Show has become the Hyundai Solaris, a re-nosed Accent [Verna in South Korea] for our Cold War counterparts. Starting in January, the Solaris will be Hyundai's first model to be assembled at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus plant.

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Along with the local version of the new Sonata, Hyundai is also showing the RB "concept" at the Moscow International Motor Show. What we're really looking at though is a thinly disguised version of the Russian market Verna/Accent subcompact, which originally made its world premiere at the Beijing Auto Show back in April.

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