Hyundai unveils Veloster, the hi-tech sports coupe

A sporty new coupe from Hyundai will change the game this year, when Veloster hooks up with the wired generation.

Among its revolutionary design features are one door on the driver's side but two doors on the opposite side, allowing easy rear seat access and safety for unloading on kerb and not road side.

It introduces a new 1.6-litre Gamma engine giving a staggering 5.9 l/100km, driven through the front wheels. And Veloster bristles with hi-tech wizardry.

“Hyundai designers wanted to create an eco-vehicle loaded with technology that also gives people the connectivity they have everywhere else these days,” explains Tom Ruddenklau, Chief Operating Officer at Hyundai New Zealand.

“The designers asked some cut-through questions:
Why can’t a sporty coupe get 5.9 l/100km?
Why can’t a car have the same connectivity as portable electronic devices?
Why does coupe design dictate only two doors?
Why can’t an affordable coupe offer premium features?
Why can’t Hyundai have a playful front-wheel drive model?

“The designers succeeded brilliantly, with 21st-century answers,” said Mr Ruddenklau. Veloster’s all-new 1.6-litre GDI Gamma engine paired with proprietary Hyundai six-speed manual transmission and Hyundai’s first dual-clutch transmission delivers outstanding highway fuel efficiency figures.

Inspired by today’s high-powered sports motorcycles, the coupe design provides the functionality of a hatch. Glass spills into the hood and wraps around the cowl, covering the A pillars, like the face shield of a motorcycle helmet. Beneath the glass are structural trusses with the glass panels applied like a shield.

Click for big version

The truss frame structure going up the pillars helps increase greater visibility. Possibly it’ll be that third door setup for which Veloster is best recognised, combining the style of a coupe and the functionality of a hatchback.

Unlike past coupes using smaller rear-hinged access doors, Hyundai’s fresh take provides a conventionally-hinged door on the passenger side for safe and ready access to the surprisingly spacious rear seats. The passenger-side rear door handle is hidden to maintain the coupe design.

“And with an interior size the best in its class, advanced safety technologies as standard, and sport-tuned electric power steering plus a suspension setup that’s world-class, Veloster is the coupe we are all waiting for,” said Mr Ruddenklau.

It’s just been unveiled in the USA and we are looking forward to having Veloster on sale in New Zealand before then end of this year.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media