Hyundai has not traditionally been a brand which one would associate with luxury or high sports performance. The people at Hyundai, however, have been doing anything and everything in their power to change their public image in the past few years. Winning numerous consumer polls on customer satisfaction and performance, Hyundai has been climbing the Japanese auto manufacturing ranks to join Honda and Toyota on an equal playing field. Their most recent concept, the Hyundai Veloster Turbo, certainly serves to give them a boost.
Hyundai Motor America introduced the all-new 2013 Veloster Turbo earlier this month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, armed with 201 horsepower for its world debut. The Veloster Turbo Concept is the most recent addition to Hyundai’s turbocharged sports coupe line-up, paired with the refreshed 274 horsepower, rear-wheel drive 2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0T (Turbo) also debuting at NAIAS.
“The Turbo further broadens Veloster’s hero role in the Hyundai line-up to attract our next generation of buyers,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president, product and corporate planning, Hyundai Motor America. “It’s powerful, high-tech and fuel-efficient, attributes which we think make Veloster Turbo the ultimate innovation in the sport coupe segment.”
The 2013 Veloster Turbo will be arriving in the Summer of 2012, facing off against worthy competitors such as the Volkswagen GTI, Honda Civic Si and Mini Cooper/Clubman S with a better power-to-weight ratio than all of them, and a unique sport-tuned steering and suspension hardware set.
The Veloster Turbo comes standard with a multifunction seven-inch touch-screen display. When you turn the car on, the screen comes to life with a Veloster image and a unique soundscape. There are three interface layouts the user can choose from, and Pandora Radio comes equipped and integrated into the interface, allowing user customization at every level.
The Veloster Turbo looks to be the vehicle to bring the Hyundai brand to the forefront of the industry, while bringing up the standard of luxury, performance, and innovation in the process. Phoenix Valley auto enthusiasts can expect to find the first Veloster Turbo production models in Phoenix Valley showrooms sometime this summer.
