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Hyundai tops VW and Buick in China, survey says

You may be aware of the long-time competition in China between Volkswagen and Buick, but another brand apparently should be in that conversation too: Hyundai. In a recently published annual consumer survey, the Korean company actually took the top spot to beat out its German and American rivals in second and third, respectively. The results were part of the China Brand Power Index that interviewed 11,500 people around the nation and was paid for by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. While Hyundai proved popular with voters, its sales haven't necessarily shown that yet. According to Bloomberg, the brand had falling numbers in China for the first quarter of the year. Even Ford outsold the South Korean automaker in the same period, despite scoring lower on the survey. Meanwhile, Audi ranked as the populace's favorite luxury brand, which is hardly a surprise given the Four Rings' strong sales in China. In January alone the automaker saw a 15-percent boost in volume there. Parent company VW's strong performance was somewhat more surprising, though. State media severely criticized the German automaker in March, and customers protested last year for the allegedly poor handling of a recall.

Hyundai shows a mysterious coupe design in promo video

You never know where you'll find some interesting automotive news. In this particular case, we found some curious Hyundai info buried in an otherwise painfully boring Hyundai promo video. At about the 1:12 mark in the video, we see footage of a person working on a clay model of a car. It's low, sleek, and looks like it would only have two doors. It appears to have a liftback as well, and fairly aggressive vents in the back. Nothing else in the video indicates what the car is, though. However, we've got some educated guesses. One possibility is that this is a model for the successor to the recently departed Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The short deck and steeply raked rear window and pillars fall right in line with the styling of Hyundai's old sports car, not to mention the bulging rear fenders. Genesis has also made it clear that they intend to have a coupe to replace the old Genesis on sale by 2020. The luxury brand also has a small rear-drive platform in development in the form of the G70 on which it could base the coupe, along with some reasonably potent engines. Last we heard, the twin-turbo 3.3-liter V6 was under consideration. However, an argument against this being a Genesis coupe is that it would be odd to show a Genesis model in a Hyundai video. The companies are clearly trying to put space between each other, so including a Genesis vehicle in this video seems out of step with the two brands' goals. This brings us to the second possibility for this mystery coupe; that it must be a Hyundai of some sort. Hyundai has had very few coupe or coupe-like vehicles in its past. The Tiburon is long dead, thanks to the aforementioned Genesis Coupe, which will have a Genesis-branded successor. The Veloster is coupe-like and due for replacement, but recent spy photos show that it will look more like the current model and not the clay vehicle in the video. That leaves us with just one other coupe it could be: the Elantra coupe. It was killed off for the 2015 model year, but Hyundai might take another stab at it. If the company offered it exclusively with the turbocharged 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, it could attract a small enthusiast base, with the added advantage that, aside from the Civic Si, it would be the only sporty front-drive coupe on the market. Of course, it could also be something entirely new that isn't connected to any previous Hyundai or Genesis product.

Hyundai to launch European performance sub-brand

Hyundai has quickly emerged from the sidelines as one of the biggest players in the industry, outselling rivals left, right and center. Still, a dedicated performance division is still something that separates it from the big boys. Now, according to the latest reports, that's just what it's getting.
After setting up its own Nürburgring test center and gearing up to launch its assault on the World Rally Championship, the next step in the ramping up of Hyundai's performance credentials - in Europe, especially - will reportedly be to set up its own performance division along the lines of what Nissan has done with Nismo.
The first product in Hyundai's new European performance portfolio is expected to be a version of the next i20 hatchback that's set to launch in 2015. That in turn will be used as the basis for the company's next WRC challenger, to replace the upcoming model, pictured above undergoing testing. After that it's anyone's guess, but performance versions of the Veloster, Genesis Coupe and Elantra could be in the cards.