Cold weather testing for the 2010 Hyundai Tucson prototypes

2010 Hyundai Tucson Next generation Hyundai Tucson has been spotted during the pause from its extensive cold weather testing somewhere on the northern part of the globe. Well, actually, there were two Hyundai prototypes caught parked outside, while the third one comes from Kia Motors, Hyundais sister company.

Each of the next generation vehicles has been heavily disguised not letting us to see much of its exterior shape. But one thing is certain, the official debut of next generation Hyundai Tucson and Kias first ever mini-MPV model is approaching fast. Its less than a year before both new vehicles hit the streets in their production ready form.

Little Kia is rumored to make its official public unveiling at one of the Frankfurt auto show held in September, while the all-new Tucson crossover will possibly make its official debut at one of the upcoming North American auto shows this year.

2010 Hyundai Tucson engines

As we learned from guys at Globalmotors, the 2010 Hyundai Tucson will be (again) sharing its unibody platform with next generation Kia Sportage and will be loosing the currently available 2,7L V6 powerplant.

That engine has been known as a very reliable one, but persent Tucson owners have been complaining over its above average fuel consumption. Fortunately, Hyundai will be replacing the V6 unit with a smaller, four-cylinder engine, that achieves higher power ratings but at the same time, consumes a lot less of gas.

Since eco-friendly cars are gaining on their popularity and their sales has been rising pretty fast, Hyundai might also bring the Tucson hybrid to the US market. Another rumor tells us Hyundai has also been working on the supercharged 2,0L engine for the 2010 Tucson, with approximately 200+ horsepower.

But thats not all, in Europe, Hyundai will put on sale a diesel powered Tucson model, equipped with the EURO5 compliant engine unit. Dubbed the R-engine, the brand new diesel unit will be available as a high and low output variant with 150 and 184 horsepower ratings respectively.