Hyundai's chunky moves

Hyundai appears to be continuing its trend of firing off in numerous directions -- the company said late last year that it was working on introducing no less than seven new models within 24 months -- with the appearance of these Carparazzi spy photos depicting a new, well-disguised sporty coupe that leave some room for imagination/interpretation.

What the contrived rearmost cladding of this test car, captured skating through snow-clad terrain somewhere in wintry Korea, seems not to entirely disguise is that the overall shape looks close to the chunky front-drive Hyundai Veloster concept coupe that first appeared at the 2007 Seoul motor show.

This is most clearly indicated by the sharp junction of the A-pillar with the top of the windscreen and the high-set taillights that featured on the concept car -- not to mention the overall shape.

Hyundai said last year that the production Veloster is in its schedule to make an appearance in 2011, at the time describing it as a sort of modern-day Honda CRX coupe.

Carparazzi says the car will likely run a normally aspirated version of the new 2.0-litre Theta II direct injection engine, with around 115kW on hand. A turbo version is reportedly not too far down the track.

All that seems pretty certain. What isn't, is what the new coupe will be known as.

With the Genesis coupe model reportedly likely for Australia, and the knowledge that there won't -- as once speculated -- be a rear-drive Hyundai Tiburon, is it possible that this could be the next version of the generally well received four-seat coupe? Nobody seems sure, especially when there is already uncertainty over whether the Tiburon name will even be a part of Hyundai's future.

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