SEOUL MOTOR SHOW: mid-engined Veloster evolves

Hyundai's hot-rod star of today's Seoul show opening was a high-performance coupe concept. The RM15 (for 'Racing Midship 2015') builds on the mid-engined Veloster-based engineering concept motoring.com.au broke the news on last year.

Hyundai sources remain tight-lipped about the future of the car, which will leverage the Korean giant's World Rally Championship campaign, but several engineering prototypes have been spotted testing in Korea, proving it's no motor show pony.

The new show car features revised bodywork and a new space-frame chassis. In this respect, the RM15's further evolution away from the Veloster donor car in terms of structure and bodywork suggests that the eventual production car could wear a very different set of 'clothes'.

Power comes from Hyundai's Theta 2.0-litre T-GDI turbocharged petrol four mounted transversely behind the two-seat cabin and ahead of the rear axle, resulting in rear-biased weight distribution of 43/57 front/rear. Total weight is just 1260kg and Hyundai claims a 491mm centre of gravity.

The engine is claimed to output 300hp (221kW) of power at 6000rpm and 39kg/m (380Nm) at just 2000rpm, resulting in a power-to-weight figure of 238ps (175kW) per tonne.

It drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. Hyundai says RM15 accelerates to 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds.

Hyundai says the "aggressively-styled, high-performance mid-engined coupe concept... makes a confident statement about Hyundai Motor’s passion for performance and its expertise in the development of advanced vehicle technologies and materials".

Underlining its performance focus, the car rides on 19-inch alloys attached to double-wishbone suspension all round.