Ok, so it's only a drawing at this stage - and let's face it, anyone could do that - but it looks like Hyundai is about to go all interesting on us. Things have been getting better for the Korean maker for some time now, thanks to a tie with fellow fledgling Korean Kia that's seen it unveil a couple of surprisingly half decent hatchbacks. And now this: a properly good-looking (drawing of a) concept SUV.
Codenamed the HED-6, the sharp-suited SUV has five seats and looks like it'll be pitched against the hugely successful
Nissan Qashqai as a sort of augmented hatchback crossover; it will come with either front- or four-wheel drive. The show car will get 21-inch chrome rims. Yours won't. What yours will get, though, is the 1.6-litre turbocharged and direct injected petrol engine knocking out 175bhp, and, obviously, there'll be a diesel too - a 2.0-litre unit.
In other news from the orient, the i20 three-door will hit the stands at
Geneva, as will the i30 Blue - a supercar-baiting V12 hatchback with a full FIA-spec roll cage and carbon fibre bodywork, confirmed for production in summer.
Obviously not. It's a green car, silly. It's got ISG (Idle Stop and Go) to cut emissions to zero in stationary traffic queues and take tailpipe CO
2 emissions down from 152g/km for the standard 1.6-litre version to 142g/km. From autumn you'll be able to get both a 1.4-litre and a 1.6-litre i30 with a bit of Blue.
Mark Nichol - 11 Feb 2009