Hyundai Rwd Coupe

[dillongt]

WINDING ROAD met with Hyundai VP John Krafcik and company communications man Miles Johnson in Ann Arbor this morning. The two sat in for a quick meeting before a long series of interviews and dealer meetings they’re doing in the area. We discussed our recent Hyundai cover story (“Hell Freezes Over”), which had a tremendous amount of reader response–particularly to the image of the black coupe that we featured as a part of their forthcoming product strategy.

Krafcik went on record to specifically note that the new rear-drive coupe will not have a V-8, but rather a V-6. When we pressed him on whether the car would have turbochargers or superchargers, he deflected our query. We never got a straight answer on that question, but he did specifically say we’d be very impressed with the power-to-weight ratio in the car when it hits production. He also took a few friendly jabs at our design (above) and said that the production model is quite a ways away from what we dreamed up. He said it would be even better.

This coupe will be based on the new rear-drive Genesis. There’s still talk of a separate, front-drive coupe for our market (to make up for the 20,000 or so sales of Tiburons in the U.S. every year), which Krafcik says could end up looking a lot like the recent Veloster show car from a few months back.

Overall, we’re upbeat on Hyundai as usual. What other car magazine put a Hyundai on one of their covers? We love a good underdog here at WINDING ROAD. We look forward to driving the Genesis when it’s available.

[dinosh]

Looks much better than the current coupes by Hyundai.

The front lights look like the Dodge Viper.