Hyundai will not have a sports coupe for the 2009 model year, but will have front- and rear-drive choices for 2010 with the Genesis coupe and a replacement for the Tiburon.
The current Tiburon ends its run with the 2008 model year. Its replacement will be based on the Veloster fixed-roof two-plus-two concept that debuted at the 2007 Seoul auto show.
The front-wheel-drive Veloster was shown with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. And John Krafcik, vice president of product development for Hyundai Motor America, tells us the automaker’s turbocharged 2.0-liter—the base engine fro the Genesis coupe—will make its way into a number of future Hyundai products. Krafcik won’t go so far as to connect the dots officially in an interview with Car and Driver, but our Sharpies have little trouble completing the picture.
Nor will Krafcik comment on the platform underpinning the Veloster except to say it will not ride on the current Tiburon architecture. He says he can’t discuss possible shared platforms with sister company Kia, noting that Hyundai and Kia execs in North America sign antitrust agreements prohibiting info sharing—collaboration and decisions are strictly made in Korea. All of which means Krafcik was mum about Kia’s own front-drive coupe unveiled earlier this year at the 2008 New York auto show, dubbed the Kia Koup, and derived from the Kia Spectra.
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