South Korea’s Hyundai is upping the stakes with the development of its first dedicated hybrid model to take on the Toyota Prius and its ilk.
Our spy shooters believe that the Hyundai prototype they nabbed on a transport truck in the Arctic Circle is that car.
They support this, not only because of its pointy, very Prius- and Volt-like aerodynamic shape, but also due to the high voltage orange cables and a sticker on the suspension arms that reads “AE HEV”, with the last part possibly standing for “Hybrid Electric Vehicle”.
Hyundai Motor CEO Kim Choong-ho had pointed towards the firm’s plans to launch a gasoline-electric, hybrid-only model, at a launch event in South Korea last October, where he said:
“We will take the lead in the future by raising the competitiveness of our environment-friendly cars like hybrid-only cars, plug-in hybrid cars and fuel cell hydrogen cars.”
Very few details have made their way out, but Hyundai could build the car on a shared platform, possibly on the next generation Elantra compact, fitted with a parallel powertrain setup combining the use of a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor fed by a lithium-ion battery pack.
A plug-in hybrid version could follow launch, which is expected to happen in Korea during the second half of 2016.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops
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