2010 Hyundai Tucson Limited Sport Utility 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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2015 Hyundai Genesis appears uncovered [UPDATE]

Hyundai gave us a tease of its second-gen Genesis sedan courtesy of the HCD-14 Genesis Concept displayed at this year's Detroit Auto Show, and while we've seen numerous spy shots of the car testing since (both on and off the track), all were heavily camouflaged. That all changed today when the South Korean site bobaedream.co.kr posted an image of the new luxury sedan sitting out completely uncovered (click the image to enlarge).
While we can't see much more than the face of the new Genesis sedan, it does appear to be a striking improvement over the current car that debuted back in 2008. The jutting, upright grille is very similar in appearance to the HCD-14 Concept, while the headlights and fascia look like a combination of Mercedes S-Class and E-Class. The body creasing isn't as dramatic as the concept, but the roofline and glasshouse look to be almost identical to the show car. Based on how finished the car looks in this picture, our guess is that we could see Hyundai's new Genesis at an upcoming auto show like LA or Detroit.
UPDATE: Per the request of the individual pictured next to the Hyundai Genesis in the original photo that spurred this story, we have removed said image from the post. You can still see the new Genesis here at the source, for the moment.

Hyundai, Buick dealer apologize in wake of Chinese baby social media incident

A very strange story out of China today, as Hyundai and a Chinese Buick dealer were forced to face allegations of using allusions to an infamous child murder on a social media site as a way of promoting the safety features of their respective vehicles.
The original sad tale goes something like this: On March 4, a man reported to police that he had left his infant child in a running Toyota RAV4 while he ran into a supermarket briefly. When he came back out, the vehicle and the child were gone. Later in the week a suspect turned himself in to the police; confessing to them that he had stolen a sport-utility vehicle, strangled the infant that was in it, and then buried the child in the snow.
As you might imagine, the gristly incident was covered massively in the Chinese media. (There was huge public outcry as well, as evidenced by the vigil scene, above.) "Changchun baby abduction" was very quickly amongst the highest ranking search teams of the China's Weibo social media site - an equivalent of Twitter in the English-speaking world.

Hyundai's zombie obsession is just good business

In case you somehow missed it, Hyundai has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with The Walking Dead, the critically acclaimed zombie apocalypse show that entertains the masses while they're waiting for the next season of Game of Thrones. Fans of the show will recognize Rick, Michonne, Carol, Maggie and Glenn's mint green Hyundai Tucson, a staple vehicle for the crew of survivors, but the relationship between manufacturer and show goes far beyond that. There's a whole line of Zombie Survival Machines, as well as a special-edition production model (shown above). Heck, even Hyundai's post-LA Auto Show party featured actors staggering about as startlingly realistic walkers (TWD's name for zombies).
So what is it about the dead that quickens the pulse of Hyundai's marketing department? Ward's Auto has a great interview with Steve Shannon, the brand's US vice president of marketing. In it, Shannon describes the sudden nature of the tie-in between the show and the automaker, while describing how the company's corporate overlords in South Korea saw the results of the deal. It's an interesting insight into automotive product placement, as well as Hyundai's marketing philosophy and plans for the future (spoiler alert: the Tucson, which has had a role in the show for several seasons, was seemingly abandoned at the end of season four).
Head over to Ward's and have a look.