While the next big product on Hyundai’s horizon is the long-rumored compact CUV that could take on the Nissan Juke, it seems that Hyundai has not one but two potentially significant products in the works.
AutoGuide.com has spy shots of two Elantra GT mules with slightly askew bodywork. According to their photographers, the mules appear to be testing out powertrains for two new models that will compete with the Toyota Prius and Prius V respectively. Rather than be part of the Elantra lineup, the new cars will apparently be distinct models.
Furthering this notion are photos of the kind of orange high-voltage cables commonly seen in hybrid cars. No timetable has been discussed, and this is the first that we’ve seen of a dedicated hybrid lineup.
I Love Hyundai and what they offer the US market.
They (and Kia) offer a wide variety of cars with a wide variety of options – which in many ways feel and look better than Toyota and Honda.
Unfortunately, many people have been so dumbed down by Toyota and Honda that they refuse to even look at the competition (US or Korea) and will keep releasing the same old same ol.
The Prius (is a really hard name to dethrone. Maybe impossible.
Hmmmm interesting, but not really surprising….. the Prius and it’s variations practically print money for Toyota, but also they need to do it right- witness Honda and their hybrid failures, the only one they did right was the Civic. Still Hyundai has come a looooong way and I could see this being a winner, though I don’t think it will dethrone the Prius, simply put the Prius is the “go to” vehicles as far as hybrids go.
I am all for this. More hybrid hatchbacks and wagons pls.
Not off topic to me; I have drunk the Mazda Koolaid and find it delightful.
I am circling a Mazda3 as a Prius alternative that is roadworthy not merely safe on the road. 2.0 6mt. I WILL (maybe) get 40 mpg highway which is very much close enough for me, especially on low test gas.
Hyundai will continue to succeed and one day I will surely drive one.
I read about the SkyActive system that requires longer intake in the new 3, and that causes long warm-up time.
So for short trips the MPG is not good, but highway MPG is good.
This seems the opposite of hybrids, where they excel on short trip MPG.
So what is your experience on short trips to the mall, work, etc with your Mazda 3?
Hybrid CUV that has a panoramic roof and costs under 30 grand by Summer 2015, Hyundai. Please!
The biggest issue for making a ‘prius fighter’ has been making a battery pack and system worthwhile to foray into the market. Patents and a heavy push for everybody to build their own proprietary system has slowed down a great deal of development so that hybrids are released mainly as more expensive mainstream models. Hyundai and Kia really take the opposite approach, they see what works, they watch from the sidelines and the second they can enter that market with their own mimicry they do. I for one will welcome it when it gets here if only because then I will have some leverage if I want a Prius V.
So far, we really like our Optima Hybrid. It’s not as refined as other hybrids, but we got it for a steal and its fuel economy is crazy good.
But if H/K expects to take some of the Prius market, it can’t be anything that looks like these test mules – too small and ugly.
A hybrid Sportage would interest me.