Hyundai wants a piece of the compact sports car action with their new Korean market Avante Sport that will arrive Stateside nearly unchanged as the Elantra Sport. The automaker has given the car to the Korean press with the first walkaround and driving videos hitting Youtube.
Since we’ve already seen what the car looks like, the most interesting part about these clips is what the KDM Elantra Sports sounds like on the road. Its Veloster-sourced 1.6-liter turbocharged four gasoline engine that produces 204PS (201hp) and 265 Nm (195 lb-ft) of torque gives out a racy hum with a bass undertone, though, we don’t know yet if Hyundai has employed any trickery pumping engine-sounds through the speakers.
Another interesting piece of information that has emerged comes from Caranddriver which supports that, according to company bosses here in the USA, the Elantra Sport will replace the standard model’s torsion-beam rear end with a more sophisticated independent multilink rear suspension to vastly improve handling and ride.
In Korea, the heated up Avante is offered with both a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission driving the front wheels, and we expect the same to be true for the North American model that should make its first public appearance at the SEMA Show this fall, before going on sale towards the end of the year.
Thanks to Darius F. for the tip!