The law says that a given model-year car can only be sold on one January 1. So, theoretically, a particular car could be sold for 1 year + 364 days and be the same model year, if you introduced in on January 2, 2011, and sold it through December 31, 2012, for example.
I suspect Hyundai is not too worried about model year here. As someone rightly stated, the changes are going to be subtle enough that they will barely interrupt the assembly line. And they are clearly running through the summer, probably to make the '09 final tally look better. They may also be doing this just to maintain a more measured pace of production of their flagship.
My guess, and it's just a guess, is we'll see '10s right before Thanksgiving. I doubt that the dealer who commented that the cars were coming in December had any real information...Hyundai is notoriously close-lipped about product releases, and has a history of off-calendar (read: unusually late) product launches.
I'd say, the later the better...means they've had more time to listen to all the thoughtful folks on this forum and make improvements to the product.
