Hyundai sports car takes shape
Korea’s answer to the Toyota Supra and Nissan 400Z could be an affordable hybrid scorcherHyundai has made no secret of its plans for a new flagship sports car.
The question is, will it be an affordable sub-$100,000 rival for the Toyota Supra and upcoming Nissan 400Z, or a Rimac-powered electric weapon designed to do battle with the $420,000 Honda NSX?
At this stage the answer is unknown, but it could quite probably be ‘both’.
has come up with a rendering of how Hyundai's upcoming high-performance sports car could look.Showing off a ground-hugging stance, pumped-out rear haunches and a front-end that borrows a few design cues from the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kona SUVs (especially the headlights and grille), this low-slung two-door coupe looks ready to rumble with Asia’s finest sports cars.
If appearances are anything to go by, this fictional creation looks like a front-engined performance coupe aimed directly at the Nissan 400Z and Toyota Supra (and perhaps even a reborn Mitsubishi 3000GT).
As previously reported, we know Hyundai is plotting two high-performance sports cars – one a combustion-engined hottie with an electric motor to boost acceleration, the other a purely battery-powered weapon co-developed with Croatian EV sensation Rimac.
We’ve seen several mid-engined Veloster-based 'RM' concept vehicles, the latest being the Hyundai RM19, confirming the brand is researching and developing a mid-engined sports car.
The latest development of the theme was spied in April bearing the MR23T name, referring to a 'mid/rear' engine layout and potentially a 2.3-litre turbo engine.
Hyundai’s evolving sports car project was discussed in detail in January 2018 by the Korean car-maker’s former chief of design, Luc Donckerwolke, who told Aussie journalists “…we are definitely doing it”.
Timelines are not yet clear for the new Hyundai sports car but at the same interview Woong-Chul Yang, chairman of Hyundai’s R&D department, declared “Our brand is in need of this type of car”.
“The people working on N will be working on that [new sports car] but how we fit it in N [product range], or above N? This is a pretty high performance [car]. It’s a serious sports car,” Hyundai’s R&D boss revealed,
Yang explained “…we will put some electric powerplant in there,” but said it won’t necessarily be a conventional hybrid.
“We cannot say just hybrid but we will use some electric motors and batteries to improve performance.
“Some [performance] areas we can’t just overcome by putting in big ICE engines … we like to minimise as much as possible I think,” added Yang, hinting at a smaller four-cylinder powerplant.
Yang also confirmed the new sports car “…will pretty much be a two-seater”.
The new Hyundai sports car is also expected to be joined by a mind-melting EV sports car described as a “game-changer” by Hyundai’s head of European design, Thomas Beurkle.
Last year Hyundai joined the likes of Porsche when it took an €80 million ($A130m) stake in EV sports car innovator Rimac and confirmed plans to jointly develop an electric supercar.
That battery electric sports car could end up being branded as a Genesis model for Hyundai’s luxury car marque.
Hyundai has also vowed to keep manual hot hatches alive but it remains to be seen if such a transmission would work its way into either of the Korean car-maker's high-tech electrified sports cars.
Stay tuned for more details.
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