I40: Hyundai's Wagon-First Assault On Europe's Midsized Market
When TTAC’s Tal Bronfer caught a D-segment Hyundai station wagon brake testing in Austria’s Groβglockner High Alpine Road, we concluded that the “Sonata wagon” was
not a simple sheetmetal job
It turns out that was something of an understatement.
Hyundai is announcing that its Euro-market midsizer, known as the i40, will debut as a wagon at the Geneva Auto Show in March, with a sedan version coming later next year. And based on these first official renderings, it appears that the i40 is definitely not a Sonata, as the exterior look seems to split the difference between the Sonata Hybrid and the forthcoming Elantra. Under the skin, however, the German-developed i40 is probably quite similar to the Sonata. Hyundai is calling the i40 its “New European Flagship,” and says the model will offer
he latest environmental technologies developed under the company’s Blue Drive™ eco-program, and a powertrain line-up which boasts best-in-class performance and fuel economy, and very low CO2 emissions.
Hyundai-blog reckons this means that
Under the hood, there will be a wide range of highly-advanced gasoline and diesel four-cylinder engines available. Entry-level i40W will be offered by Hyundai’s latest 1.6L GDI engine, which churns out 140 horsepower, while the top of the range i40W will feature a 177-hp 2.0L gasoline engine. Diesel power will come out from the all-new 1.7L CRDI diesel engine, which will pack 115 (low output model) or 136 horsepower (high output model).
A more potent 2.0L R-diesel engine will also be added to the range later, says Hyundai. The 2.0L CRDI diesel engine will pack 177 horsepower and will be mated to Hyundai’s all-new dual clutch automatic transmission.
Which brings us to the portion of this blog post where we are contractually obligated to wonder aloud whether a midsized wagon fits into Hyundai’s US market plans. Hyundai isn’t saying, so we’ll turn the question over to the B&B: should Hyundai bring a midsized wagon stateside, and if so, should they keep the i40’s distinctive look or re-style it to look more like the Sonata?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Me want, wagon good.
Saw the i40 test cars (both SW and Sedan) at the Namyang R&D facilities a few days ago. really interesting. despite the heavy camo, even behind closed gates, the car looks to have quite a fair hint of the Sonata but closer to the larger Azera/Grandeur in terms of design substance. Hyundai/Kia have a storm of new cars running around in camouflage over there, even some really interesting competition metal... can't say much, but I'll say this, a lot of exciting things are coming from Hyundai in the coming years...