2007 RWD Hyundai Tiburon confirmed
05-01-2005, 12:37 PM
#1
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2007 RWD Hyundai Tiburon confirmed
"FUTURE Driven" Hyundai will abandoning front-wheel drive for its next Tiburon
Due to be unveiled towards the end of 2007 before a local debut the following year, the rear-wheel drive coupe will be a "serious sports car", according to a senior Hyundai Motor Company executive.
Although details are scant, it is believed the Tiburon replacement will be a three-door coupe featuring many of the styling cues as well as the general proportions displayed on the HCD-8 Concept Car, which made its global debut at the 2004 Detroit motor show and has since appeared in Melbourne.
The HCD-8, as it stands, is powered by a supercharged version of a current 2.7-litre DOHC V6 with a six-speed manual gearbox.
However, variations of Hyundai's new-generation 3.3 and 3.8-litre V6 engines are expected to debut in the 2+2 seater sports car, with the latter one likely to be the range-topper.
"Yes, we are developing rear-wheel drive for the next sports car," was the surprising response from Hyun Soon Lee, Executive Senior Vice President for Hyundai Motor Corporation.
This remark came after a suggestion from the gathered press at the opening of the 2005 Seoul motor show in South Korea that the company seek the passionate sports car route to increase its global youth appeal, rather than simply focus on quality.
Mr Lee's remark even caught out other Hyundai executives.
It is a surprising development for a model that started out as the very unsporty two-door derivation of the front-wheel drive Hyundai X2 Excel of 1990 called the S-Coupe.
That car's predecessor jumped up to the 1995 J2 Lantra platform to become the SX, FX and SFX Coupe until the current, sharper - but still front-wheel drive - Tiburon came into the fray in 2002.
A rear-wheel drive sports car is in line with Hyundai's desire to push its vehicles further upmarket.
Such a model willl probably share many components with a rear-wheel drive sedan in much the same way that Nissan's 350Z has spawned a range of mostly-US market Infinity products such as the G35.
There has been speculation for some time that Hyundai was considering releasing a luxury line of vehicles above the current, Sonata-derived Grandeur - which has just had a complete makeover and is the star of Hyundai's stand at Seoul.
Adding further credence to Hyundai's sports image push is its re-entry into the World Rally Championship from 2008.
The company says it will field an all-wheel drive "sports car" very loosely derived from the yet-to-be released Accent replacement, the front-wheel drive MC4 small car.
Due to be unveiled towards the end of 2007 before a local debut the following year, the rear-wheel drive coupe will be a "serious sports car", according to a senior Hyundai Motor Company executive.
Although details are scant, it is believed the Tiburon replacement will be a three-door coupe featuring many of the styling cues as well as the general proportions displayed on the HCD-8 Concept Car, which made its global debut at the 2004 Detroit motor show and has since appeared in Melbourne.
The HCD-8, as it stands, is powered by a supercharged version of a current 2.7-litre DOHC V6 with a six-speed manual gearbox.
However, variations of Hyundai's new-generation 3.3 and 3.8-litre V6 engines are expected to debut in the 2+2 seater sports car, with the latter one likely to be the range-topper.
"Yes, we are developing rear-wheel drive for the next sports car," was the surprising response from Hyun Soon Lee, Executive Senior Vice President for Hyundai Motor Corporation.
This remark came after a suggestion from the gathered press at the opening of the 2005 Seoul motor show in South Korea that the company seek the passionate sports car route to increase its global youth appeal, rather than simply focus on quality.
Mr Lee's remark even caught out other Hyundai executives.
It is a surprising development for a model that started out as the very unsporty two-door derivation of the front-wheel drive Hyundai X2 Excel of 1990 called the S-Coupe.
That car's predecessor jumped up to the 1995 J2 Lantra platform to become the SX, FX and SFX Coupe until the current, sharper - but still front-wheel drive - Tiburon came into the fray in 2002.
A rear-wheel drive sports car is in line with Hyundai's desire to push its vehicles further upmarket.
Such a model willl probably share many components with a rear-wheel drive sedan in much the same way that Nissan's 350Z has spawned a range of mostly-US market Infinity products such as the G35.
There has been speculation for some time that Hyundai was considering releasing a luxury line of vehicles above the current, Sonata-derived Grandeur - which has just had a complete makeover and is the star of Hyundai's stand at Seoul.
Adding further credence to Hyundai's sports image push is its re-entry into the World Rally Championship from 2008.
The company says it will field an all-wheel drive "sports car" very loosely derived from the yet-to-be released Accent replacement, the front-wheel drive MC4 small car.
05-04-2005, 10:45 PM
#2
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I can't wait until it comes out. Korean cars really have been proving their worth in the global automotive industry. Even GM and Ford are looking up at the quality of their work as it steadily gets closer to the Japanese.
05-06-2005, 08:14 AM
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Oh yeah, Hyundai has brought us such amazing vehicles as the "Budget JagCedes" (the Sonata, a complete ripoff of a Jaguar rear-end and a Mercedes 300SL front end) and the "Four Dollar Lincoln" (the XG350, ripping off Lincoln looks and a Lexus-like name) and the "CR-V Lite" (the Santa Fe, an inch-for-inch copy). If they wanted to make a true impact in the industry, they'd be better off making cars that aren't such blatant knock-offs of other designs. Even the Tiburon is just a slightly restyled Celica with some shark gills on the side -- and the riveted gas cap mount on the rear fender, stolen from the Eclipse!
The Sonata's wannabe-Jag looks are so obvious that Jaguar actually announced early this year they were going to drop all of the sub-$35,000 models from their line. Guess which ones they dropped? The ones the Sonata steals the rear half from!
I can't speak for the reliability or quality of the cars (although my friend with a V-6 Tiburon says it gets surprisingly terrible gas mileage) but the "knockoff" look doesn't get any respect in my book. Subaru's cars are visually an "acquired taste," and I'm being kind by saying that, but at least they are instantly recognizable as Subaru and not some odd blend of styles lifted from other cars. Oh, and before anyone starts the "looks don't matter blah blah blah" argument, I'd be willing to bet that looks are about 80% of the average customer's criteria when selecting a car, followed by cost and THEN performance. I'm basing this on feedback from friends and co-workers who formerly sold cars.
The Sonata's wannabe-Jag looks are so obvious that Jaguar actually announced early this year they were going to drop all of the sub-$35,000 models from their line. Guess which ones they dropped? The ones the Sonata steals the rear half from!
I can't speak for the reliability or quality of the cars (although my friend with a V-6 Tiburon says it gets surprisingly terrible gas mileage) but the "knockoff" look doesn't get any respect in my book. Subaru's cars are visually an "acquired taste," and I'm being kind by saying that, but at least they are instantly recognizable as Subaru and not some odd blend of styles lifted from other cars. Oh, and before anyone starts the "looks don't matter blah blah blah" argument, I'd be willing to bet that looks are about 80% of the average customer's criteria when selecting a car, followed by cost and THEN performance. I'm basing this on feedback from friends and co-workers who formerly sold cars.
05-06-2005, 07:29 PM
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I like how they spelled Infiniti "Infinity."
05-07-2005, 04:56 PM
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Ripping off the design aesthetics of other manufacturers isn't a moral issue -- it is just a sign of lazy/non-innovative engineering. There's not anything about the Tiburon that hasn't been done before, and better, by another manufacturer. Having yet another RWD "sports car" on the market doesn't matter much, unless that car innovates in a way which would motivate other manufacturers to also update their lines.
05-07-2005, 04:59 PM
#9
Originally Posted by meilers
Ripping off the design aesthetics of other manufacturers isn't a moral issue -- it is just a sign of lazy/non-innovative engineering. There's not anything about the Tiburon that hasn't been done before, and better, by another manufacturer. Having yet another RWD "sports car" on the market doesn't matter much, unless that car innovates in a way which would motivate other manufacturers to also update their lines.
Almost every other "sports" car nowadays is FWD with the exception of the AWD ones we love so much.
05-07-2005, 06:43 PM
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with all the hate hype about hyundai(and kia) these 2 car companies actually spank subaru's in customer satisfaction AND dealer satisfaction- very FEW companies can do that-
now resale value has a different tune-
oh, and if its cheap enough i'd rock a rwd tiburon-
aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna Kea-^-*
now resale value has a different tune-
oh, and if its cheap enough i'd rock a rwd tiburon-
aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna Kea-^-*
05-09-2005, 09:45 AM
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Originally Posted by ShiroStee
wonder what the car'll look like this time...
"gdogg," I'm not a Korean-car hater; I just haven't seen anything from either company that Subaru fans (or car fans in general) should be excited about. Cost-shaving is certainly a valid engineering objective, but true sports cars have something that Kia and Hyundai have yet to demonstrate: heritage. When they can demonstrate that a near-stock version of their car (not a GT or pro version) can compete at a race level, as Subaru, Toyota and Honda do, then they can claim to offer a sports car; otherwise it's just another clone. As for customer satisfaction, I think it is fair to say that Subaru cars are driven a bit harder and by a more discriminating (and therefore more likely to complain) type of driver.
Also, if you read the press release you'll note that they cite the RWD Tiburon as an attempt to move "upmarket" -- it doesn't take reading between the lines to realize that "upmarket" means a price increase. No matter how impressive a RWD Tiburon with a 3.6 liter engine would be, it is going to have a tough time competing with other RWD offerings from domestic and Japanese manufacturers -- as well as used Z3 roadsters, an extremely impressive RWD car that retails for under $18k used around here.
Last edited by meilers; 05-09-2005 at 12:33 PM.
05-09-2005, 12:12 PM
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Originally Posted by meilers
Didn't you read my post? It will look something like the new Eclipse and the new Celica, of course
"gdogg," I'm not a Korean-car hater; I just haven't seen anything from either company that Subaru fans (or car fans in general) should be excited about.
"gdogg," I'm not a Korean-car hater; I just haven't seen anything from either company that Subaru fans (or car fans in general) should be excited about.
Remember that Hyundai is a relatively young company. I doubt anyone would have expected seeing crazy-*** 300hp AWD sedans come from Subaru when the 360 debuted. Give Hyundai time to move up-market and experiment and I'll be willing to bet some awesome cars will pop out of thier plants.
Also, I don't see how Hyundai has been granted the responsibility of having to 'inspire' other car companies to do anything.
05-09-2005, 12:28 PM
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Just so you don't think I'm making this up:
Here's the Tiburon:
and here's the Celica:
Look especially at the shape of the windows, windscreen, placement of the grille and fog lamps. I've seen the two cars parked side-by-side, and they have an identical wheel base; even the door handles are the same height and position.
Here's the Tiburon:
and here's the Celica:
Look especially at the shape of the windows, windscreen, placement of the grille and fog lamps. I've seen the two cars parked side-by-side, and they have an identical wheel base; even the door handles are the same height and position.