A favorite genre of many auto fiends is the “sleeper” - a car that looks like grandma’s Mercury but goes like stink. In this day and age of flashy, showy performance - with all the standard body kits, huge spoilers and obnoxious red badging automakers seem to believe belong on performance cars, the sleeper is a dying breed.
I knew what to expect last week when they dropped off Hyundai’s new Genesis luxury sedan. Ever since the Genesis line was announced, they’ve been touting how the car in on-par with Lexus and Mercedes at a much lower price point. But when the car actually pulled up into the driveway, it was still hard to believe I was looking at a Hyundai.
With big SUVs and even smaller crossover SUVs becoming less popular as the price of gas rises (and the economy sinks,) Americans still need a vehicle with enough utility to carry their stuff around, and sedans just don’t hold enough cargo. For example, the 2009 VW Jetta TDI sedan has 16 cubic ft of truck space. Get that same car in the SportWagen edition, and the cargo capacity increases to 67 cubic ft with the rear seats folded down.
Hyundai’s new Genesis Coupe already gets everything right, but it just keeps getting better for tuners. Their latest announcement says they will be releasing a Genesis Coupe R-Spec, which is basically a blank slate for tuners and racers to go to town, or leave as-is. The R-Spec starts off by getting rid of a few of the standard, non-essentials: Bluetooth, auto headlights, cruise control, trip computer, chrome interior accents and steering wheel audio controls.
Hyundai has plenty of plans in place to revamp its lineup, particularly on the heels of recent successes like the Genesis sedan and coupe. In addition to these exciting models, Hyundai plans to jump aggressively into electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle production. Also in the works is the replacement for the compact Tiburon sports car.
On the heels of Hyundai’s introduction of the all-new Hyundai Genesis sedan, the Korean automaker is also introducing the Genesis Coupe, a sports car that was designed with the Infiniti G37 in mind.
Seems like most of the people I know watch the Superbowl not for the game, but for the commercials (we’re car guys, not football fans.) This year may have been a bit slow in terms of budgets, but there was no short of good commercials in Superbowl XLIII.
Keep reading to watch the videos.
This coming April at the New York Auto Show, Korean carmaker Hyundai will premiere the new Genesis. The midsized sedan implements the full bore power of a V8 while transferring all that power to the rear wheels.
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