Hyundai on the verge of Veloster

HYUNDAI’S vivacious Veloster show car has morphed from concept to reality and should be revealed in final production guise by March, before going on sale as a belated replacement for the Tiburon coupe in Australia within 12 months.

One senior Hyundai Motor Company executive told GoAuto in South Korea this week that the final design of the all-new affordable coupe – codenamed FS – has been locked in and is almost identical to the striking two-door coupe concept that surprised crowds at the 2007 Seoul motor show.

Confirmed for release in Australia during the fourth quarter of next year, the two-plus-two-seat Veloster will be the first Hyundai coupe to be available here since the two-door Tiburon was discontinued last year.

The Veloster, which is likely to continue with Hyundai Motor Company Australia’s ‘i’ model naming convention locally - possibly badged as the i15 – is aimed primarily at Asian and European markets and should therefore debut at the 2011 Geneva motor show in March, rather than at next month’s Los Angeles show or January’s Detroit show.

Smaller than the Tiburon it effectively replaces, the Veloster will bring to three the number of small cars Hyundai will offer Down Under from 2011, with the next-generation MD Avante (to be known here as the i35) to replace the small Elantra sedan when it goes on sale here alongside Hyundai’s popular small hatchback, the i30, in the second quarter of next year.

While the popular i30 is itself expected to be renewed by 2012, next year will also see the redesigned RB Accent sedan bolster Hyundai’s i20 hatchback in the light-car segment, with the all-new VF-series i40 medium hatch due to join the YF-series i45 sedan in local Hyundai showrooms by the end of 2011.

Unlike the 2.7-litre V6-powered Tiburon, expect the similarly front-wheel drive Veloster to come with Hyundai’s latest 1.6-litre GDI direct-injection four-cylinder petrol engine.