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Hyundai’s nothing if not ambitious. What else but ambition could turn a company known only for shoddily made cars like the mid-’80s Excel to a major purveyor of well-built mainstream and near-luxury vehicles in just 20 years?

The company’s rapid rise to respectability has been pretty shocking, but nothing Hyundai has done along the way—building vehicles with better appointments, better reliability, better value—has been particularly brash. Until now.

We say that because the stylish concept you see here has the Ford Mustang in its sights. The exterior was designed in California, the interior is from Korea. And this thinly disguised concept presages the production version that will be shown next spring at the New York auto show. A final name has yet to be settled on, but it likely won’t be Tiburon since the Hyundai Veloster concept is the precursor to the next-gen Tiburon.

Where’s the Pony Power?
A top-spec production Genesis coupe should more or less match the Mustang GT’s 300-horse output, although the rear-wheel-drive Korean coupe will make that power from a 3.8-liter DOHC V-6 versus the Ford’s SOHC V-8. A 200-plus-hp turbo inline-four is the base engine (the same world engine in the Dodge Caliber and other Chrysler vehicles), and either can be mated to a six-speed manual transmission or a five-speed auto with the inline-four and a six-speed automatic with the V-6.

You might still find yourself wondering where the V-8 option is. Even going beyond the idea that pony cars traditionally offer an eight-hole powerplant, we have an expectation of a V-8, given that a full-size rear-drive luxury sedan based on the Genesis sedan concept will go into production in the second half of 2008, with Hyundai’s first all-new V-8 under the hood.

Yes, the sedan and coupe concepts are both called Genesis. And they both hail from a new rear-wheel-drive platform known as BH, and Hyundai has said its new V-8 will be rolled out into other family members beyond the sedan. That seemingly all adds up to a V-8 in the coupe, except for one huge logistical problem: The 4.6-liter V-8 wouldn’t fit.

The coupe weighs in at 3500 pounds, or about as heavy as a Mustang. Sprinting to 60 mph should take fewer than six seconds with the V-6, and an available Brembo brake package will ride inside 18-inch standard and 19-inch optional wheels. The suspension consists of struts up front and a five-link setup out back, an arrangement like that found on the BMW 3-series coupe.

Branded a Hyundai
From a styling standpoint, Hyundai is using the Genesis coupe concept to further mark its brand identity. Some familiar cues have been tweaked, although the show car wears carbon fiber, flared wheel arches, and a few other details that won’t make it to production.

Otherwise, though, what you see is pretty much what you’re gonna get when this car hits the streets. The V-6 will start at $25,000, and the turbo-four, just under $25,000—and we like it a lot. Although some styling elements call other brands to mind (there aren’t many cars on the road that you can’t say that about), the Genesis coupe has a unique identity overall.

The ingredients are there, but we admit to having some small amount of doubt as to whether this car will be good to drive. We’ve been suckered before by new models shaking a tantalizing spec sheet and a list of impressive competitors in our faces. And facts are facts: Hyundai has never offered us anything like this—rear-drive, huge power, a car for true enthusiasts—before. We’re hoping the Genesis coupe is truly good, but we’re going to wait until we’ve had a couple of cracks behind the wheel to get too excited.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Hyundai. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.