The new car may also appear at the Paris motor show this October, but is expected to first break cover in Hyundai's home market of South Korea sometime this year. Sales of the production car are expected to begin in the U.S. in the fall of 2011 as a 2012 model.
First shown as the HND-3 Veloster Concept at the 2007 Seoul Motor Show, rumors have swirled about what to call the new coupe, which has been spied testing several times recently. We have confirmed it won't be called Veloster. While a revival of the Tiburon name has long been suggested and makes sense as the new car's mission looks to be similar, our source says a final name has not yet been decided.
The car is expected to retain much of the Veloster concept's styling, including its shooting brake greenhouse. The 2+2 will be front wheel-drive only and is expected to make use of a new direct-injected 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine producing 140 horsepower, likely available with a manual transmission. While it's possible that Hyundai's more-powerful 2.4-liter four-cylinder or its new 2.0-liter turbo could fit under the hood, there's been no indication of such plans so far. Right now, Hyundai is said to be shooting for more than 40 mpg from the 1.6-liter engine, putting it up against the new Honda CR-Z without the aid of a hybrid system.
When the new car does finally reach the U.S. market, Hyundai already has plans to take it racing. Noting that Hyundai used to take the Tiburon rallying, our source says that the company is eyeing Rallycross and the popular X Games for the new car and could get their favorite driver, Rhys Millen, behind the wheel.
1 comment:
I don't think this is a good choice to introduce the car secondly in the auto show after selling in the market.
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