Hyundai Blog :: Hyundai news, spy shots, reviews, concept cars, sales reports

Hyundai Motor America today introduced the HED-5 concept car at Los Angeles Auto Show. This futuristic looking crossover is making its second premiere after it was first unveiled at Geneva Auto Show earlier this year.

The six-seat crossover concept car combines a visionary styling with future technologies and advanced eco-dynamics. It provides a glimpse into the future of travel, incorporating innovative weight-saving technologies, a modern fuel-efficient four-cylinder direct injection turbo, and a flexible interior package.

Powered by Theta Turbo GDI engine, this 2,0L gasoline engine features a direct injection system that injects the fuel directly inside the cylinder in small, precise amounts, resulting in an improved performance and engine response.

Thanks to the fitted turbocharger, the engine develops a respectable amount of horsepower. Rated at 286 hp, the four-cylinder Theta Turbo GDI engine matches most of six-cylinder engines out there in terms of power, while delivering up to 20 percent lower fuel consumption!

While the exterior design of the HED-5 will most likely never become a reality, its ultra efficient, high-tech turbo engine will find its way into various Hyundai models that will come to the market in the near future.

Continue here to see more images and read the official Hyundai HED-5 concept press release…

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Hyundais future flagship model has made its public appearance again. It has been spotted parked at an unknown location somewhere in South Korea by an amateur photographer, who took a chance and snapped a few shots of a heavily disguised Hyundai prototype.

As we mentioned many times before, the vehicle you see here has been codenamed VI and represents a replacement model for the ageing Equus sedan, which has been Hyundais flagship model and on sale mostly in South Korea.

Scheduled to make its Korean debut in February 2009, it was designed to appeal domestic Korean customers. That awful camouflage doesnt reveal much of its design, but some details reveal its shape will rather be elegant than sporty.

Most likely, the VI will never reach US shores, but it is rumoured to go on sale in some larger markets like China and Russia. Powered with a 4,6L V8 Tau engine and Hyundais first 8-speed automatic transmission, the VI should provide plenty of power, while offering a class leading MPG numbers.

Its time for the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. One of the largest and most important American auto events will officially open its doors for the public on November 21. While you will get the access to all the bling (cars) presented in L.A. on Saturday, automotive media and press is already on the scene and you can expect their exclusive reports start hitting the web in just a few hours.

We will closely follow the happening at this years auto show and will bring you the latest Hyundai news and images from there. So far, among many debuting vehicles and concept cars, Hyundai Sonata hybrid concept has been confirmed for the show. This is by far the most important vehicle for us, as it previews Hyundais first hybrid car with production ready hybrid system. Stay tuned; we will make an extensive report about it!

Beside the regular Hyundai related news, we will cover some other brands as well, especially the ones directly competing against Hyundai in US market. This years Los Angeles Auto Show will host many other interesting premieres.

What other vehicles will be presented at the L.A. auto show? Check out the link below, where all of the premieres are listed…

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I have been a Hyundai fan for more than 10 years. By following news and reading articles in various newspapers, car-magazines and world-wide-web over those past 10 years, I have garnered a lot of information and knowledge about the most successful Korean car company. And now, I would like some of it to be shared with you!

Back then, automakers did not release dozens of concepts at auto shows like they do now, but Hyundai has been pretty active in this area at that time already. More than a decade ago, auto-media and press kept Hyundai in the background. Barely known Korean carmakers have had a hard time gaining world-wide attention, so they had to build attractive concepts if wanted their names to be exposed on front pages of the most important car magazines.

I realize many of you who are reading this blog haven’t been Hyundai enthusiasts or fans at that time and have just recently became Hyundai owners and supporters. For all of you who have missed some of the greatest looking Hyundai concept cars from the past 15 years, I will write a series of articles to show you all those great oldies-goldies concepts that Hyundai Motor Company has built.

There are at least 25 of them and all deserve to be mentioned. Not only they represent a respectable history of Hyundai Motor Company, but also reveal how companies design has evolved through all those years. Each week, we will take a look at one of them, so over a period of several months you can expect to see many awesome concept cars presented here.

Starting in the next few days, I will introduce you Hyundais first concept car that that made its official debut pretty long time ago. It was unveiled in 1992 and held a HCD-1 name, which stands for Hyundai California Design.

Genesis Coupe went on sale in South Korea last month and many people had an opportunity to test drive Hyundais latest sports-car already. Those not used to a rear-wheel driven vehicles with as much power as Genesis packs (up to 310 horsepower), should be warned to play (drive) carefully with this toy in case they want to avoid accidents like happened just recently.

As you can see at these images, an unknown driver of a Genesis Coupe lost control while driving along the street and crashed into a concrete street light barrier, leaving front of the car completely smashed. With front-left wheel falling off and so much damage, the Genesis Coupe had been totaled. I don’t know what happened to the driver, but I hope he is in good condition and not injured!

Now, many car-blogs have noticed that the crash was bad enough for airbags to deploy. But they didn’t. And many of them quietly question whether safety of Genesis Coupe is up to the latest International safety standards.

I don’t want to exclude anything, but think most probably they are wrong. Let me tell you a few reasons why I think so.

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Prada, one of the worlds leading brands in the luxury goods industry, has signed an agreement with Hyundai to create a special edition Genesis Sedan. Over a four month period of time, three “Prada” Genesis luxury sedans will be built and they will combine the best industrial design with quality materials, craftsmanship and an innovative new approach aimed at creating a new driving experience.

One of the cars will make its appearance at the Busan Motor Show in April next year and later displayed at Hyundais South-Korean headquarters in Seoul. Other two special edition Genesis sedans will be auctioned at the Prada Transformer, a unique, temporary building that will accommodate a range of different art, cinema, culture and fashion events from March to July 2009. The proceeds will be donated to a charity under the joint Hyundai Motor Company - Prada Transformer name.

James Choi, Hyundai Motors President of International Sales said to the press: “We have made a name for ourselves as a quality automaker, and are now focusing on raising our brand image and we are extremely delighted that Prada, one of the best and most innovative luxury goods brands, has agreed to work with us and infuse their creative energy into our products.”

Over the past few years Hyundai Motor experienced a rapid growth in the fast growing Indian market and in a relatively short period of time, it has become the second largest car maker in the country. In addition, Hyundai also became countrys largest car exporter, with cars being exported to more than 100 countries around the world.

A decade after the company rolled its first car produced in India, Hyundai reported the company has achieved a  milestone of producing its 2 millionth car. Achieving 2,000,000 production landmark in just a little more than 10 years also marks a hard to beat record of producing the fastest 2 millionth car in the country.

Hyundai rolled out its first Inidan built car, called Santro, on September 23. 1998, and it immediately became one of the most popular cars on the market.

As a gesture of goodwill, the 2 millionth car was handed over to Child Rights and You, India’s leading advocate for child rights, which has worked tirelessly over three decades to make sure all children enjoy all their basic rights.

Early next year -our information reveal January launch date- Hyundai will introduce its new mid-size model to Chinese consumers. It will replace the current Sonata model, which has been on sale in China for more than two years and missed to meet Hyundais sales expectations.

Sources close to Hyundais China unit state, that its current design wasn’t appropriate for China market and their consumer tastes. Sonatas sales never really took off as expected and Hyundai realized it has to redesign it to meet local customers demands.

The company has pumped additional $50 million to redesign it’s exterior. As you can see at these images, that show a preproduction model, designers made some major improvements and at the end, Chinese version Sonata looks completely different than its American model.

Inside, Sonata has retained its shape as we know from American (or European) model but exterior received a slew of changes. You can clearly notice different front and rear fascia, with large chrome grille, head-lamps and fog-lights. At the back-end, there are new taillights and new bumper design.

When compared to American Sonata, it seems like the roof has also been redesigned to offer more head-room inside. Speaking of interior, there was some “new” equipment added, such as intelligent push-button start-up system, Infinity radio unit and JBL subwoofers, Chinese-language DVD navigation system and “shark” antenna.

This is already Hyundais second model designed especially for Chinese car market. Since Hyundai released its Chinese version of compact Elantra, its sales has jumped 21% and it has immediately became a hit among car shoppers in the worlds most populated country.