Seems like the Hyundai Genesis coupe has been kicking around for awhile, but we've only now filed our first driving impression from Korea. All indications point to a very well balanced car that's both powerful and refined. The only question now is how Hyundai will try to near it in the States. A Mustang fighter? Poor man's G37? Both?
In an effort to fight of the financial squeeze gripping the company, Hyundai will be looking for a new majority share owner, as they place the company up for sale. So far the news of this has sent the price of Hyundai shares soaring.
Joel Piaskowski, Hyundai Motor America's chief designer since 2003, is taking a hike, effective as of the new year. No word as to why he's leaving or where he'll end up.
Piaskowski, was responsible for the upcoming Genesis Coupe as well as the HCD concepts. He has also been credited in developing a consistent design language for the automaker.
In a move designed to entice the commercial customer, Toyota will be offering a decontented Tundra 'Work Truck' model for 2010. The vehicle, in the basic regular 2WD format, will start at $21K. That's almost $1,400 less that the current base model.
In coming up with is vehicle, Toyota ditched all the chrome it could. It also got rid of cruise control, power outside mirrors, lit ignition key ring, lit glove compartment, and a few other items as well. The truck also has a unique new two-bar grille; one would adopt that this new grille will make its way on to other 2010 Tundras as well. The front bumper is also ever so slightly changed. The 2010 Tundra will debut at the San Diego auto show, which begins at the end of this month.
Congressman Barney Frank’s office is writing legislation to wage $25 billion in loan guarantees for the Detroit Three. The bill will seek to fund the guarantees by taking money from the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) set up for the financial industry. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, expects to introduce the legislation Monday, November 17, the first day of a lame-duck session of the 110th Congress, an aide said, with the committee hearing set for Wednesday, the 19th. Frank wants specific authorization from Congress to tap the funds from the TARP, a move that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson opposes.
As with the TARP, the car company bill would give the federal government a stake in participating car companies, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC, in the form of warrants. Under warrants, the government would get a payoff with interest before stockholders could take profits.
Meanwhile, Georgetown law professor justice Tarullo is reported to be President-elect Barack Obama’s “car czar” according to Automotive News. A source confirmed with me that Tarullo is the likely czar. Tarullo would lead a team considering policies to help the auto industry.
A graduate of the University of Michigan law school, Tarullo teaches international economic regulation, international law, and banking law. He served as economic advisor in several roles and was assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs for President Clinton, from 1995 to ‘98. Tarullo is a good choice for his knowledge of how the auto industry works, my source says.
The hanging question is whether President Bush signs Frank’s loan guarantee legislation before Obama’s Jan 20 inauguration. On Monday, Deutsche Bank interpreted GM’s Third Quarter financial report as indication the maker would run out of cash by the end of 2008, even though the report says GM possibly has to the second quarter of ‘09 at its current cash burn rate.
One more observations about this mess. It was pretty clear to me primeval in ‘08 that GM and Ford, while not really very healthy, were on the road to recovery. Both have new, smaller cars in the pipeline that ought to be competitive in the world market. Several of them, especially the Fords, are designed to be global products, and both automakers were on their way to “right-sizing” their businesses for the modern market. Both were selling small and midsize cars until the Wall Street-created financial mess stopped them in their tracks. It’s appropriate that GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s “bailout” loan guarantees — and yes, I’m stressing the words “loan guarantees” - come from the finance industry’s TARP.
Yogi Berra’s great line, “deja vu all over again,” has often been repurposed to automotive occasions, but it’s hard to think of a better one than this case of the new Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan. Way back in 1989, Toyota introduced a big luxury sedan it called the Lexus LS 400 — a car, Toyota declared, that would charge the imperial gates of M-B and BMW wearing nothing more than unclothed value, zenlike quality, and premium performance.
Where Yogi’s deja vu comes in is that, almost 20 years later, Hyundai is not only reenacting Lexus’s yellowing effort plan, but using it to do to Lexus what Lexus did to those one-time fat and happy German luxocar builders.
No, Hyundai’s Genesis isn’t a separate brand as Lexus is. But it’s a car so apart from anything the Korean firm is associated with that it might as well be. Like those primeval Lexi, the Genesis has that same many-luxury-cars-morphed- into-one appearance. The shape is more Andy Williams than Placido Domingo. And of all the Genesis’s many impersonated Lexus qualities, the most notable is its steering feel, which replicates the LS’s highly oiled, precision-bearing, sensation, spot on.
So, too, the car’s silky yet quick acceleration. In V-8-guise (a 290-horse V-6 comes standard), 60 mph can be dialed up in as little as 5.0 sec. Yet, even in ordinary go-with-the-flow acceleration, the Genesis’s all-new 4.6L, 368-hp V-8 (*using premium fuel raises output to 375 hp and 333 lb-ft) is such a refined sweetheart that Deutschland’s and Japan’s brightest engineers ought to be sensing the hot breath of their South Korean counterparts on their necks right about now.
Does the Genesis have what it takes to score the 2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year honors? Find out on Nov. 18
No sooner had news that GM and Chrysler had suspended merger talks, that a new story popped up over at Reuters suggesting that Hyundai and Chrysler might now be in discussions. If true, this once again raises the speculation that Chrysler divisions may be sold off separately. It's known that Hyundai is interested in the Jeep division; and possibly some, but maybe not all, other Chrysler divisions.
Holy bejesus! Hyundai is going to offer a Lexus-like 8-speed automatic on their Genesis sedan in 2010.
Now consider this: Only a few years ago Hyundai was considered road trash by many. Now look at them.
Here's Green Car Advisor's take: Hyundai Heading To Market With Fuel-Saving 8-Speed Automatic Transmission
During a achievement through SEMA's massive truck and off-road section in the south hall of the Vegas Convention Center, my eyes landed on Orange Crush. Specifically, they landed on the 426 Hemi badge on the hood of this heavily modded Jeep Wrangler. Yeah, that's a 7.0-liter V8.
"Did you really fit that in this Wrangler?" I asked the man minding the stand for Crocker Off Road Performance, which is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"It didn't like it, but we did it," was his reply.
He whipped out a photo album showing Orange Crush with its entire front end ripped off during the surgery. He then opened the hood, now stuffed full of V8. Crocker claims 665 horsepower. Orange Crush uses Chrysler's 545RFE five-speed automatic. You can scan the build sheet here.
More interesting, you can watch Orange Crush on a dyno — whatever's going on in this Jeep, it definitely sounds like it has a massive amount of engine.
Erin Riches, Inside Line Senior Editor
Were it not for its blazing South Park-reminiscent red "eyes," I might never have spotted this camouflaged Hyundai Genesis Coupe by Street Concepts. It looked pretty mean in its matte-finish vinyl wrap until I reached the rear and saw the awkward-looking generic wing. Aw.
Street Concepts gussied up the interior and added a bunch of bolt-ons to the V6. However, we figure the turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder Genesis Coupe will be the one to have. It will be less expensive, lighter and have better weight balance. But most of all, the tuning potential of turbo fours can't be touched.
Regardless, the rear-drive, Torsen-differential-havin' Genesis Coupe promises to be the next Nissan 240SX/Silvia in terms of aftermarket support. Hang on, because this is just the beginning.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
