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Hyundai cranks the Tucson to 700 hp for SEMA

The annual SEMA Show doesn't kick off in Las Vegas until Nov. 3, but Hyundai is getting an early start by teasing another collaboration with the talented tuners at Bisimoto Engineering. Following up on their high-performance takes on the Sonata, Genesis Coupe, and Elantra GT of past years, the attention turns to the Tucson. Now that the crossover packs over 700 horsepower, Bisimoto prefers to describe it as a "Brute Ute." To crank that much power out of a Tucson, the tuners perform quite a long list of modifications to Hyundai's 2.4-liter Theta-II four-cylinder. Among them, the mill gets strengthened internal parts, a new cam, high-boost turbo, and updated management system. Bisimoto then routes the grunt through a six-speed manual gearbox. The tuners match the massive power with an appropriately wild look. Up front, the normal grille is gone, and now all that's visible is a massive intercooler. The blue Tucson also hunkers low over 19-inch wheels thanks to a custom air suspension, and bigger brakes should help slow things down at high speed. The interior also gets outfitted with an upgraded stereo, and there's now a roll cage in there, too. While only being shown currently in the sketch above, we expect to get all the angles at SEMA in November. Bisimoto Engineering's First CUV is the Most-Powerful Tucson Ever FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 21 2015 –Hyundai has revealed the most-powerful 2016 Tucson ever created, built by the powertrain gurus at Bisimoto Engineering for 2015 SEMA. Partnering for a fourth straight year, Bisimoto's "Brute Ute" will be revealed at Hyundai's SEMA press conference on November 3 at 11:30 a.m. PT, in Las Vegas. Utilizing Hyundai's 2.4-liter "Theta-II" power plant as the starting point for the build, similar to last year's 2015 Sonata, Bisimoto mated strengthened internals with fast-burning flex-fuel, a high-boost turbocharger and an upgraded engine management system to put down more than 700 horsepower to the wheels through a 6-speed manual transmission. This rendition of the 2016 Tucson was built with the ultimate vision of packing world-beating performance and technology into a brand-new, unexpected vehicle platform. "The 2016 Tucson was the perfect platform for this year's build, offering me the opportunity to captivate a wider audience by tapping into the growing popularity of the CUV market," said Bisi Ezerioha, owner and chief engineer, Bisimoto Engineering.

2014 Hyundai Veloster Turbo gets stripped-down, lower-cost R-Spec model

We Autoblog staffers have had our ups and downs with our long-term 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo, but there's no question that the cheeky three-door hatchback has got its proponents. Case in point: at the recent driving event for the fire-breathing SRT Viper TA, none other than Ralph Gilles sauntered over to have a closer look at the matte grey Veloster we'd driven out to the track that day. Gilles had lots of praise for the Veloster styling; not out of line with similar sentiments we've heard all year long.
We digress slightly, but the larger point is that there still seems to be a lot of interest in the Veloster, and Hyundai has plans to fully explore potential new marketplace niches for the car with this all-new, 2014 Veloster Turbo R-Spec.
Following on with the formula for R-Spec models to date, the new Veloster is not a higher-performance Turbo, but rather one that is more affordable. The theory goes that a de-contented Veloster Turbo hits the sweet spot for those who are interested in tuning the car for performance, a group that will probably not need the higher spec comfort and connectivity content that the standard Turbo ships with.

Quality issues drive resignation of Hyundai R&D president

Hyundai released a statement Monday announcing that its research and development president, Kwon Moon-sik, and two other executives resigned from their positions, Reuters reports, to "take responsibility for a series of quality issues," according to the statement.
The resignations seem to be related to recent recalls around the globe. A few weeks back, Hyundai recalled 27,500 Genesis sedans from model years 2009 to 2012 in the US for brake fluid that doesn't prevent corrosion of the electronic hydraulic control unit. The recall recently was expanded to include 43,500 Genesis sedans in the US, but nearly 150,000 are reportedly affected including the South Korean market.
"The latest personnel change shows our firm commitment to quality management and reaffirms our will to continuously improve R&D competitiveness," says Hyundai.