The all-new Hyundai HED-6 SUV concept

Hyundai is all set to unveil a brand-new concept car – a compact SUV – at this year’s Salon International de L’Automobile, in Geneva, on the 3rd of March this year. This new compact SUV concept, codenamed HED-6, was styled at Hyundai’s European design headquarters in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Equipped with LED daytime running lights and powered by a 175bhp, 1.6-litre GDi turbocharged engine, the HED-6 will provide a glimpse at the future of Hyundai SUVs.

Hyundai will also unveil a three-door version of the i20 hatchback, and a new version of the i30 blue, with stop-start technology. This will be the first usage of this technology (which Hyundai calls ISG – Idle Stop and Go) on a Hyundai production car anywhere in the world.

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Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) has announced the launch of an updated variant of the Verna sedan, which, among other things, will now also be available with an automatic transmission. The car, which is available with a choice of 1.6-litre petrol and 1.5-litre common-rail diesel engines, is priced between Rs 6.38-8.65 lakh.

The Verna’s 1.6-litre petrol engine makes 103.2PS@5,500rpm and 14.9kgm of torque at 3,000rpm, while the 1.5-litre CRDi engine produces 110PS@4,000rpm and 24kgm of torque at 1,900-2,750rpm. Both versions are fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox, and the top-end diesel model comes with an optional four-speed automatic.

Hyundai has updated the car in terms of cosmetics – new radiator gr...

Hyundai, the one non-Japanese Asian car manufacturer that’s fast catching up with the Japanese, is said to be planning an all-new small car which will take on the Toyota iQ. Codenamed ‘green baby,’ the new baby Hyundai will be, it’s rumoured, more basic and functional than the iQ.

The Hyundai Green Baby could either be powered by the i10’s 66bhp 1.2-litre inline-four Kappa engine, or perhaps an even smaller three-cylinder engine. The car, which is expected to go on sale in Korea, China, India and Europe, could be launched by mid-2010 and Hyundai is also expected to do a petrol-electric hybrid version of this car by 2011.

The Hyundai Kia Automotive Group (HKAG) has announced that it will develop low-carbon emitting, eco-friendly cars, and as reported here earlier, Hyundai will launch its first small hybrid car, the Elantra Hybrid LPI, in July 2009. This will be the company’s first step in its larger strategy for a greener automotive future.

HKAG plans to expand its small hybrid car lineup to include mid-size sedans in the next two years – it plans to produce 30,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010, and 500,000 hybrid vehicles by 2018. HKAG also plans to manufacture fuel-cell electric vehicles, starting in 2012. The group will produce 1,000 units of fuel-cell vehicles that year, going up to 30,000 units by 2018.