Speaking to CarAdvice at this weekend’s World Rally Championship (WRC) Rally Australia event in Coffs Harbour, Hyundai Australia public relations general manager Bill Thomas said future plans for the next-generation Genesis Coupe are “concrete” while suggestions of axing Veloster are simply “incorrect”.
“It’s [Genesis Coupe] probably about two years away,” Thomas said.
“That’s a car that … we will definitely take,” the local PR chief said reconfirming comments made by his predecessor back in 2011.
Asked if there was any weight behind recent rumours that the rear-wheel-drive Genesis Coupe could be cut from the South Korean car maker’s line-up, Thomas said: “No”.
“Not that we’ve heard," he said.
“I think the idea of doing a Genesis Coupe is as concrete as these things ever are.”
Blaming continued development for the sporty two-door’s delays, Thomas couldn’t confirm how far into the development process the new model was or give an accurate time frame to its launch. He did, however, stress that: “it’s definitely not something that we can say is being axed”.
“I mean, there’s a story going around that Veloster was going to be axed. And I think the quote actually was that, ‘a decision hasn’t been made, yet’.
“Now I don’t know what the source was but as far as we’re concerned, there hasn’t been any announcement one way or the other.
“To say that the car [Veloster] has been discontinued is incorrect.”
Other than the unveiling of the Hyundai HND-9 concept at the 2013 Seoul motor show, details on the next-gen Genesis Coupe – previously anticipated for a 2015 Australian arrival – remain lean. The Hyundai Veloster on the other hand, at least locally, continues to challenge the Toyota 86 as Australia’s top-selling sports car.
Available with either a 204kW/373Nm turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder or a 260kW/400Nm 3.8-litre V6, the current-generation Genesis Coupe debuted in Korea in 2008 before going on sale in the US the following year.
