2012 Hyundai i30: VW Golf Rival Spied Inside and Out

There's been a lot of confusion lately about the spy pictures of the next Hyundai i30. To elaborate, many readers on various websites and forums supported that the scoops may be showing a Kia. Thanks to some additional work from our spy photographers, we can now put the brand speculations to rest. What you see here is indeed a Hyundai, with this being proved by the brand's logo on the alloy wheels as well as the typical Hyundai styling of the interior.

Okay, so we've established it's a Hyundai, but could it be the new five-door Accent? Well, we doubt it because we saw the new Accent hatch at last month's Montreal Auto Show in Canada and it looks quite different inside and out. So that leaves us with the i30 (and yes, our spy photographer assured us it was larger than the...i20).

With that out of the way, let's see what we can find out from these spy photos. Although the prototype is carefully bagged up, it's pretty clear that the new i30 will be a sleeker proposal to look at with an edgier exterior design than the current model.

As mentioned previously, our scoopers also managed to snap the first photos of the i30's interior and as you can see, the styling is very close to the Veloster coupe. The dashboard has swoopy lines darting to and fro, a pronounced center console and a pair of deeply set instrument gauges. However, instead of the Veloster's three-spoke steering wheel, the five-door hatchback gets a more conventional four-spoke version.

What lies under the hood remains a mystery for now, but buyers should expect a choice of four-cylinder diesel and gasoline engines including the new 1.6-liter petrol with direct-injection and around 140-ponies.

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Hyundai's European Plant Hits New Production Milestone with 300,000th Vehicle

The 300,000th Hyundai rolled off the firm's manufacturing facility in Nošovice, Czech Republic, marking a new production milestone for the company in Europe. The vehicle was a white i30 CW, which is the station wagon version of the European market i30 compact hatch.

Hyundai opened the European facility at the end of 2008. It produces the i30, i30cw, and newly launched ix20 and exports to 50 countries across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

New Hyundai i30 Sport Hatchback and Crossover Wagon Models

Looks can be greatly deceiving as Hyundai proves with its new special edition i30 Sport versions that were launched in Germany today. Despite their sporty appearance and promising name, the i30 Sport Hatchback and Crossover Wagon (sold in the U.S. as the Elantra Touring) only differ visually from their normal siblings as there aren't any mechanical changes. To be produced in a limited run of just 200 units, the hatchback is offered with a 126HP 1.6-liter petrol engine while the Crossover Wagon with a 140HP 2.0-liter turbo diesel.

Both i30 Sport models are offered exclusively in a Crystal White paint finish and come equipped with a design package that includes a faux carbon-fiber grille cover, black inserts around the fog lights (sedan only), a discreet front spoiler, side skirts, roof wing, a rear apron with an integrated diffuser and two chromed exhaust tailpipes plus a set of rather neat looking 18-inch alloy wheels finished in Anthracite.

Inside, the Sport insignia adds leather seats, leather steering wheel and shift knob, an automatic air conditioning with cooled glove box, cruise control, steering wheel audio controls, USB and iPod connection as well as electric windows.

Prices in Germany are set at €20,990 for the i30 Sport hatchback and at €24,490 for the station-wagon variant.

2010 Hyundai Sonata / i40, Tuscon and i30 Facelift Shown on Korean TV

The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), South Korea's premium public broadcaster, recently aired a program that focused on Hyundai's R&D facility located in Namyang, Korea. Among other things, the show revealed a prototype model of the next-generation Hyundai Sonata undergoing testing as well as a camouflaged 2010 Hyundai Tuscon and a designers sketch depicting what appears to be a proposal for facelifted i30 hatchback. The new Sonata that will be called i40 in Europe and other international markets, is due to arrive in Hyundai's dealerships by early-2010.

Based on a newly developed platform, the 2010 Sonata will be offered with an array of engines including Hyundai's new 2.0- and 2.2-liter turbo diesels with outputs of 184HP and 200HP respectively, as well as a 2.0-litre petrol engine available in naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions.

Source: KBS1 , Via: TheCarBlogger