YAHOO AUTOS
By Andrew Newton
Hyundai is thinking about building a small sportscar. It’s something that nobody would have taken seriously only a few years ago, but given the huge rise in Hyundai’s brand perception, it actually seems like a natural next step.
Outgoing European managing director for Hyundai, Allan Rushforth, recently told Autocar that demand for a global sports car is strong, and that discussions had taken place.
Rushforth also revealed that the new performance model would not be a relaunch of an existing car but probably something new altogether. It may take a few cues from the PassoCorto concept car that Hyundai displayed at the Geneva Motor Show back in March.
The PassoCorto was designed by the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Turin, Italy. It is powered by a 262-horsepower, 1.6-liter, twin turbocharged four-cylinder engine. In Geneva it was billed as a design study only, but it would be a natural grab bag for an upcoming Hyundai sports car.
No one ever thought that Hyundai would be be introducing something to take on the Mazda Miata, but with the company’s newly formed N performance division and talks about this new sports car, it seems like a real possibility. Let’s hope it actually happens.
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