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Hyundai shocks Korea with mid-engined Veloster concept

There are many things we love here at Autoblog, but one of the quirkiest is the mid-engined hot hatch, whether it's the Renaultsport Clio V6 or the Volkswagen GTI W12-650 concept. Unfortunately, we can never seem to get our hands on one - the former never having made the transatlantic journey and the latter remained strictly a concept. And now we've got one more to salivate over.
It's called, simply enough, the Veloster Midship concept, and Hyundai is unveiling it this week at the Busan Motor Show in South Korea. As you might have guessed, it's essentially a Veloster with the engine - a 2.0-liter Theta turbo four producing 296 horsepower - mounted behind the two seats. It's also got a lightweight aluminum suspension, a reinforced chassis and extreme aero to help that mid-mounted turbo engine do its thing.
The project was undertaken by the same team that developed the initial i20 WRC rally car, but unfortunately as Hyundai itself says in the press release below (released with the solitary image above), "The Midship is a concept only to explore possibilities for the Veloster chassis and is currently not related to any future production model." Which is a bit of a shame, but hardly a surprise.

Hyundai's Genesis luxury brand not going to Europe this decade

After dipping into the premium market with the Genesis and Equus sedans, Hyundai made headlines with the planned launch of a separate premium brand, Genesis. It starts with the renamed G80 (nee Genesis) and redesigned G90 (Equus) sedans here in the US, but European consumers will have to wait. "To launch a premium brand in Europe is a challenge and it's an even bigger challenge if you don't have the products you need for the market," Hyundai Europe Chief Operating Officer Thomas Schmid told Automotive News Europe. "Europe won't see it before 2019. The main reason is we need different powertrains." Powertrains aren't the brand's only shortcoming. With the G70 – a 3 Series competitor – coming as the third showroom product, the brand also won't have a competitor in the increasingly important crossover ranks. As Schmid told ANE, "we don't yet see the right moment to do it because at the end, we want to be successful, and successful also means profitable." Initially, Genesis will launch in North America, the Middle East, China, and South Korea. Pushing back the European launch to 2019 or 2020 should give Genesis some breathing room, ANE reports. By that point, the company will offer six different vehicles, including two CUVs. According to Schmid, the brand would launch in Europe with just five vehicles. At halfway through 2016 and nothing but the G70 on the radar, expect an aggressive product launch schedule in the coming years if Genesis is going to stick to that timeline. Related Video: Featured Gallery Genesis Hybrid Sport Sedan Concept View 10 Photos News Source: Automotive News EuropeImage Credit: Genesis Genesis Hyundai Crossover Luxury

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.