Confidential

Citroen's credible supercar alternative

Mark Tisshaw — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:34:00 GMT

Anyone strolling around central London today may have got a surprise if they saw the Citroen GT supercar. The concept made a surprise appearance on UK asphalt, and I’m sure it would have turned more than a few heads with its muscular, yet futuristic appearance.

Here is an attempt by a firm with no supercar experience at trying something different - quite a bold move in the midst of a recession.

We quite often see small manufacturers trying to enter the supercar club with something seemingly created by a mad man in a shed.

See more pictures and read about the Citroen GT supercar

The odd looking Gumpert Apollo is one that initially springs to mind from recent years, the vastly powerful CCS Ultimate Aero is another. Excellent cars they may be, but you would have to be pretty brave to take a punt on one.

Established and evocative brands such as Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini seem to have so many different supercar bases covered, that no-one else with a credible reputation ever really seems to bother.

Audi is one exception, albeit a less surprising one with its track record of building desirable, yet expensive cars. The R8 has been a commercial and critical success for the firm, and its new V10 guise is sure to move the game on further.

Where I think Citroen will succeed with the GT where other smaller names have failed, is that it’s a name you can trust. Although Citroen isn’t renowned for its supercar efforts, it is firmly established in the UK as a recognised and respectable brand.

The Citroen GT looks handsome on the road, too. It’s not comically ugly and it already has lots of kudos after its appearance in the Gran Turismo Playstation game. If it makes production, which Citroen say is quite likely, I’m sure the quirky French firm will have no trouble shifting the 15 examples mooted for production.

If you weren’t one the lucky few who saw the Citroen GT supercar driving around Piccadilly Circus or past Buckingham Palace this morning, then you’ll get a chance to see it having a go up the famous hillclimb at next weekend’s Goodwood festival of Speed.

Technorati Tags: Citroen GT supercar, Citroen, London, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The new Vauxhall Astra in the flesh

Steve Cropley — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:45:00 GMT

My first thought, when my eye fell on the new Vauxhall Astra in the flesh for the first time, was that this was far too good a car to be killed in some kind of recession-fuelled reorganisation.

As you can read here (and in the magazine this week), the sixth generation Astra gets a bit bigger, and picks up quite a few of the high-tech features foreshadowed in the full-size Insignia, but compensates for extra bulk with a raft of improvements to powertrain efficiency, including a 1.4 litre petrol turbo engine that sips fuel and only gently exhales CO2, while performing like an old-style normally aspirated 1.8.

However, for me the obvious achievement is on the styling front. Vauxhall design boss Mark Adams has further widened the visual gulf between the ‘family’ five-door — being built now in Ellesmere Port and on the market before Christmas — and the coupe-like Sport Hatch three-door. The former now has Golf-like grace in its lines, while the latter is understood to match or even beat the sporty visage of Renault’s Megane Coupe, which to my eye looks more expensive and exclusive than it actually is.

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago the three-door version of saloons in this class were referred to as “poverty models” or “Post Office versions”. I always thought GM Europe was a bit behind the game with its styling, ecliped by the engaging but brash sportiness of Ford, and the more considered and developed sculptural shapes of VW.

This new Astra makes me think that, visually at least, this new Astra can match them on their own ground, and that it richly deserves to succeed, whatever the economic weather.

Technorati Tags: Vauxhall, Astra, Ford, GM

The sales war hots up

Mike Duff — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:19:00 GMT

So here's the big question: will Hyundai's storming sales performance c ontinue once the scrappage fund is all spent?

We’re barely halfway through June and the SMMT's sales figures for the month - which make up the trade's scorecard - will remain a closely guarded secret until early July. But according to industry insiders paid to know these things, Hyundai is currently on track for the number two spot in retail sales.

Of course, scrappage has been particularly good to Hyundai, which has exactly the sort of affordable, well-warranted cars likely to appeal strongly to those trading out of unreliable bangers. And Vauxhall's substatial fleet business means there's no chance it will end the month lagging in overall sales.

But it's still a remarkable achivement for Hyundai, a company that was a bit-part player in the UK market as recently as five years ago. Small wonder that established, big-name dealerships are clamouring to get themselves Hyundai and Kia franchises.

The question that's really causing sweat for rival manufacturers is whether Hyundai will be able to hold onto its new-won market share once the scrappage cash runs out.

With an improved dealer network and extra marketing spend on the back of its increased sales, I reckon you'd be mad to bet against Hyundai becoming a permanent fixture in the top ten UK car manufacturers.

Technorati Tags: Hyundai, Vauxhall, SMMT, Kia

Underground strike brings out the Blitz spirit

Mike Duff — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:36:00 GMT

It's not Sod's law so much as Crow's first principle: on the one day I absolutely have to get to the opposite side of London, the Underground's bolshy union boss decides to shut down the network.

As somebody from the provinces, where if you miss one bus you'll likely have grown grass before another one arrives, I've always been a huge fan of London's public transport system and its ability to whisk you around the capital in its grimy embrace.

But with the Blunderground knocked out of the equation - and a five-mile gap between Paddington station and my destination - I decided to drive instead. And the experience was far less traumatic than I was expecting.

Of course, traffic was terrible, with the A40 bearing more resemblance to a 1:1 diorama than a busy dual carriageway. But the jam seemed to bring out a softer, more considerate side to London's motorists that I've never seen before.

Maybe you could even call it latent Blitz spirit. People let each other in and out and chatted between cars when everything ground to a halt. I even saw a battered Transit stop next to an overcrowded bus stop to load up with hitchhikers.

And, once beyond the £8 barrier of the congestion charge, things seemed to be pretty much as normal, apart from the fact that every bus was packed to about 150 per cent of its maximum capacity. I actually arrived at my destination a good hour before I had expected to.

Now all I've got to do is get home again…

Technorati Tags: London underground, Tube, Bob Crow, Sod's Law, A40, Blitz

Has Saab found a buyer?

Hilton Holloway — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:45:00 GMT

I've just had a text message from a source, who had a text message from another source...who claims that Saab may about to be sold.

Apparently, the alleged deal would see Koenigsegg and the Swedish govermnent coming together to save the Trollhatten-based car maker. If nothing else, a domestic rescue would underpin Saab's home market sales, which I understand is something of a priority for the company.

We don't have any further details, but I was told by Swedish sources last week that any deal could be nailed by mid-June.

Saab bets on green-tinged growth

Hilton Holloway — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:18:31 GMT

Saab’s 20 years under GM control has been one long war of attrition. The first 10 years saw a stand-off between GM and co-owner Investor (a Swedish investment company). Neither side would commit serious development funds to the company.

Saab was forced to build the 1993 900 on an ancient GM platform, which badly compromised its premium position. It took seven years of GM control to replace the 9000 with the 9-5, although that was more uniquely Saab and much better engineered.

But the investment famine prevented the re-engineered 1998 9-3 being re-styled and delayed the introduction of the 9-5 estate.

In truth, GM’s parts bin was still not up to underpinning a premium brand. Saab suffered from a lack of modern diesels and petrol engines as well as a lack of four-wheel drive.

GM took full control in 2000, but still Saab survived on rations. It’s heightened sense of independence caused serious ructions while the new 9-3 was being developed. Ostensibly based on the 2003 Vectra, Saab made major and costly changes to the GM architecture to ensure the 9-3 was more ‘uniquely’ Saab.

GM’s revenge for these cost overruns was to delay the 9-3 estate – surely a self-defeating move. GM also cancelled three proposed SUVs – a model desperately need by US Saab dealers. Saab completed prototypes based on the Buick Rendezvous, Caddy SRX and Subaru Tribeca. GM canned them all at the 11th hour.

Saab had also finalised a new 9-5 in 2005, sister car to the Alfa 159. That, too, was canned at the last minute, when GM and Fiat dissolved their partnership.

So it is deeply ironic that Saab’s no-compromise flagship finally arrives just as GM decides to leave.

I have had a sneak preview of the new 9-5 and there’s no doubt it is the company’s most convincing model since the original 900. It’s big, subtly styled in the manner of the Audi A8 and, says the company, 80 percent engineered in Sweden. The estate is dramatic and promises huge load capacity. Downsized turbocharged petrol engines will be stand-out feature.

Even the 9-4X SUV looks good and Saab engineers are promising both the most car-like drive and the best safety results (especially for pedestrian impact) in the sector.

Of course Saab is currently both in bankruptcy protection and lacks a new owner, though the people I talked to in Trollhatten seemed very confident about the future. Although Saab needs to survive until next spring when the 9-5 saloon is launched, it will have a run of impressive new product form then on, cumulating in an all-new 9-3 range.

The 9-3, according to the product planners, will be the mainstay of Saab’s future with potential substantial sales. This car – Golf-sized but upmarket – will define Saab in the future.

It will reflect both Saab’s values – responsible performance, environmental friendliness, safety, sporty handling and progressive design – with the values of what it says are 40 million ‘upper class liberals’ across the EU and the US.

This area of the market is not ‘owned’ by other premium makers, says Saab. Mercedes is deeply conservative and BMW aggressively performance orientated, Saab insiders say.

If you were a potential investor, would you take a bet on this tiny Swedish carmaker having the potential to grow profitably in western markets that are increasingly driven by environmental concerns?

Or will Green-tinged Scandinavian post-modernism always be a niche market, appealing mainly to architects and upstate New York university lecturers?

I suspect that Saab will survive long enough to launch the 9-3 in 2012. By 2013 we’ll know whether Svenska Aeroplan AB has finally established a post-1989 ‘narrative’ that will ensure it can prosper in its own modest way.

What's the coolest people carrier ever?

Ollie Stallwood — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:18:00 GMT

So the new Peugeot 5008 takes influence from the 505 does it? Well, apart from the fact it has a lot of seats and is a Peugeot you’d be hard pressed to see the similarity.

But that’s perhaps not a bad thing unless you really want a new Peugeot that is as long as a bendy bus and has seating for eight, with the back three moderately more comfortable than if they were sitting on the roof.

However that’s not to put the 505 estate down – it’s legendary, and almost everyone must have been in one at some point. Family friends of ours had a big tribe and needed something large to transport them.

In those days (and I’m not saying when, but the revival of that period has come and gone) there was little choice apart from a Transit van, and the Peugeot was perfect for getting everyone in.

Another experience with a 505 was when I arrived in Egypt from Israel and saw decades old examples lined up along the border, ready to cram as many people in as possible. I dread to think what the record was.

It’s interesting now to look at the 5008, or any people carrier for that matter, and see how things have moved on in terms of packaging and size. There's multiple folding seats, tables, reclining rows, TVs in headrests – and endless choice.

But the 505 was one of the first, and quite possibly one of the coolest, people carriers around.

Technorati Tags: Peugeot, 505, 5008, people, carrier

American Leyland

Hilton Holloway — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:59:55 GMT

Today, what was once one of the most influential companies on the planet, fell into bankruptcy and its shares were removed from stock exchange listings.

General Motors is now 60 percent owned by the US government. President Obama calls the US state a ‘reluctant shareholder’ which would ‘refrain from making decisions’ about the re-invention of the company. And that’s despite the US government planning to plough another £30bn into restructuring GM.

The US government wants to see a ‘New GM’ rise quickly from the ashes of a global carmaker that currently has $82bn (£50bn) in assets and $172bn (£105bn) in debts.

Despite skepticism from some experts, the government has said that GM’s financing will only go ahead if the transition to ‘New GM’ is completed by 10 July. And there’ll be no more money after the new company is established.

The pain to come will be intense – as Obama made clear in his speech this afternoon. GM could cut its remaining factory worker numbers from 54,000 to just 33,000.

But that’s probably the price of making GM structurally profitable with US new car sales running at 10 million units per year. The recent US new car market peak was 16m annual sales.

It’s amazing to think that GM currently employs around 92,000 people in the US, less than a fifth of the workforce at the company’s 1950s peak.

There has been some disquiet in the US over the Government’s majority stake in GM. Today one website renamed GM ‘Government Motors’.

A few US commentators have also drawn parallels with the British Leyland nightmare – a story relatively well-known on the other side of the Atlantic.

The creation of BLMC from the relatively healthy Leyland-Triumph-Rover combine (Leyland was once the biggest exporter of commercial vehicles in the free world) and the ailing BMC (Austin-Morris-Jaguar) is a well-documented disaster.

When Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Minister of Technology Tony Benn decided, in 1968, that the backbone of the UK car industry should merge into one mega producer, it created a problem that took 21 years for the government untangle itself from.

When BLMC collapsed in 1974, it employed 250,000 workers directly and at least the same again in related jobs. Over UK 40 factories operated under the BLMC banner, as well as extensive holdings overseas, from Italy to Australia and South America.

The government had to nationalize it, creating British Leyland which staggered on, absorbing huge amounts of money. Even in the midst of the early 1980s recession, Sir Michael Edwardes managed to extract nearly £1bn from Mrs Thatcher to keep it on the road.

It wasn’t until 1989 – when the Rover Group rump went (controversially) to BAe – that the taxpayer was finally free of the BL monster.

The US government says it will create the healthy ‘New GM’ in just 40 days, allowing the ‘bad’ assets to be disposed of. If it does manage that, it will in stark contrast to the successive British governments – and taxpayers – that were drained of funds for 15 years.

The potentially disastrous results of Government intervention in trying to run the automotive industry have been burnt into the minds of administrators and managers across the globe.

When Obama said his government was ‘a reluctant’ shareholder and that they would ‘refrain’ from making decisions about New GM’s future, he quite possibly had the global disaster that was British Leyland in mind.

Can Volvo be the new eco leaders?

Ollie Stallwood — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:42:00 GMT

Volvo’s claim that it could be putting a car with less than 50g/km on the road by 2012 is impressive. Especially since the Swedish car maker doesn’t currently make a hybrid, apart from a bus.

When company CEO Stephen Odell says it will give “genuine driving pleasure” it is even more impressive.

But for some reason because it is Volvo, a car maker best described as sensible, you tend to have faith in it. The Swedes take the environment very seriously and while other car makers shout louder you suspect they must have a few tricks up their sleeves.

The fact that the Volvo plug-in diesel hybrid will be using renewable synthetic diesel is another interesting point.

Speaking to Volvo today it is clear they are looking at the bigger picture with regards to biofuels – that of the slightly concerning sources it may be coming from. There are constant reports of jungle being cleared to grow crops for biofuels as well as food shortages because of it.

Thus Volvo is looking at synthetic diesel, a biodiesel made from waste products such as offcuts from forests and sugar beet waste. All this and 50g/km in two-and-a-half years? It sounds too good to be true, but as it’s Volvo I hope it’s not.

Technorati Tags: Volvo, DrivE, biofuel, environment, electricity

Ford's oddball policy in Japan

Peter Nunn — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:01:51 GMT

Call it late braking, but the other week I finally got my turn in a Ford Kuga.

Come again? The Kuga, Ford’s smart soft roader, has been out quite a while now, has it not? Yes, true but not in Japan, alas, where I happen to reside.

Which means that to drive the Kuga and all other new wave Euro Fords, these days I have to board a plane to Europe to see how they stack up versus the Mazdas, Subarus, BMWs et al that normally come my way in Japan.

Time was when we got the Ka, Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo in Tokyo and Ford, to its credit, put it a lot of time and effort to adapt them to the sometimes curious demands of the Japanese market. Trust me, the cars were competitive…

For reasons best known to itself, however, Ford Japan has decided to switch tack and scratch the Euro Fords off the menu. At least for now.

Instead, we get Blue Oval cars from the US (the Mustang, Explorer, the Lincoln MXK and Mercury Grand Marquis), a nod it would seem to the full-sized, Made in America brand of Fords that perhaps have a stronger image among Japanese.

American Fords, let’s remember, also go back a long way in Japan. Henry Ford set up a state-of-the-art plant in Yokohama in 1929 to build the Model A. Before that, Ford was even making Model Ts in Japan and at one point in that pre-war era had some 50 per cent of the Japanese market locked up (GM had the other half) as the Japanese car industry was then barely on its feet.

Fast forward to today and in a minivan strong market like Japan’s, the S-Max ought to have the local opposition running for cover.

The Kuga? Yes, good, thanks. Strong on style, space, go and kit and way more appealing than a CR-V. I had a 2.5 Titanium which was engagingly fast and throbby, but I hear the 2.0-litre diesel is maybe The One.

On a previous trip over, I also spent time with a Fiesta 5dr 1.6 TDCi, Another excellent all-round package that would gel well in Japan (and wouldn’t that shape look cool in Tokyo?).

While I hear that Fiesta might eventually be on its way, a word of caution: Ford needs to get two things right – auto box and air con – if it’s truly to take off.

Meantime, don’t even talk to me about the Focus RS. It’s enough to have me crying into my sake.

Technorati Tags: Ford, Japan, Ford Kuga, Ford Fiesta, Ford Ka, Ford S-Max, Ford Mustang, Ford Explorer, Lincoln MXK, Mercury Grand Marquis

Where else could Ariel's 3.0-litre V8 go?

Ollie Stallwood — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:50:58 GMT

Speaking to Ariel boss Simon Saunders yesterday about the Atom V8 engine got me thinking.

Because it is a small engine for an eight cylinder, made using parts of motorbike engines, in the back of my mind I thought it would be useless for application in anything that is not a featherweight track day car.

But Simon told me it would produce around 300 lb ft of torque, which isn’t huge for a V8 but perfectly acceptable for a normal performance road car. The new VW Scirocco R has 258 lb ft for example.

This got me daydreaming about a mainstream application for a normal car. A saloon or even a hatch with a 500 bhp 3.0-litre 32-valve V8 is a crazy idea but it is certainly a mesmerizing prospect.

Atom V8: New picture and details

Would it work? I don’t see why not, and the fact the engine is light at 90kgs would certainly help. And perhaps it’s not as unlikely as it sounds.

Who would have thought a few years ago the hot hatch to beat in 2009 would be a 300 bhp front-wheel drive Ford Focus?

Technorati Tags: Ariel, Atom, V8

Car companies: You couldn't make it up

Ollie Stallwood — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:23:00 GMT

Imagine being stuck on a desert island for five years and then trying to get your head around today’s global car industry - it would be like returning to a parallel universe. Things have changed so quickly you really couldn’t make it up.

Take Fiat, a car maker that GM was fighting not to own in 2005. Now it could soon be the world’s second largest car maker, having turned on the American giant and cherry picked the best bits, including perhaps Vauxhall.

Then there is Citroen, a firm that lost its mojo in the nineties and ended up rebadging old Peugeot 106s. Now it wants to become Europe’s third-largest brand, according to its boss Jean-Marc Gales.

Take Porsche, a huge success story after suffering from an eighties hangover. Things were so good that it went after Volkswagen. Then it ran up huge debts in the process and a merger suddenly seemed like a better option.

Citroen targets the top three

Remember Pontiac? Oh, they’re gone. And Saab is in limbo, a Chinese company makes nineties MGs and sells them back to us and Tata, which gave us the City Rover, now owns Jaguar.

It’s fascinating for us, and no doubt terrifying for car companies, that things can change so quickly. It is enough to make your head spin. The one thing it teaches us is never get to complacent. Oh, and don’t give up hope.

Technorati Tags: Vauxhall, Citroen, GM

Eco cars: Are we missing the point?

Ollie Stallwood — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:24:00 GMT

A new report, “Low Carbon Vehicles: Driving the UK’s Transport Revolution”, has accused the government of not doing enough to tackle vehicle emissions.

I’ve read through the 20-odd page document in detail and it certainly makes interesting reading. One thing that stuck out for me is a small reference to scrappage.

Yes, scrappage has even reared its head in this report, and to be honest it is not a point that hasn’t been made already.

It suggests the government should “toughen the new £2,000 car scrappage scheme to apply only to the purchase of new vehicles with emissions below the fleet average targets.”

UK green car policy 'misleading'

When people mentioned this after scrappage was first announced it tended to be drowned out by the overall fanfare of the scheme. But does it actually make perfect simple sense?

Most people wouldn’t care if the only car they could get with £2000 off was a low emissions model if they had been driving a knackered Ford Fiesta before. And in the process this would give the UK’s emissions target of 95g/km by 2020 a massive boost.

If the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, who authored the report, are to be believed the consequences of not reaching the targets are everything from losing billions of pounds to the earth drying up and water running out.

Yes, we are trying to shift cars primarily with this scheme but I can’t see many people turning it down just because a car was eco, so why not get multiple benefits?

The problem of reducing emissions seems to be getting harder to solve and perhaps in looking for the complex solutions we are missing the simple answers.

Technorati Tags: Mini, government, green, electric cars

Ford: Nobody’s home team

Mike Duff — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:52:00 GMT

Ford’s European boss John Fleming is right to be worried about the growing trend of Euro government’s to bail out their ‘home teams’.

Because, despite its size as a car maker, Ford’s diverse European operations mean that it’s without a single place to call home.

Presuming free market economics hold sway, it shouldn’t matter at all that the Focus gets built in Germany, the Mondeo in Belgium and the Fiesta in Spain and Germany – with many of the diesel engines coming from Britain.

Ford’s problem is that, as the European car market contracts, rational economic criteria is being replaced by thinly-disguised national self interest, as politicians and unions campaign for bail-outs for ‘native’ car manufacturers.

Ford: 'Rivals' subsidies unfair'

The logic seems to be simple enough: yes, we’re producing too many cars, but that doesn’t mean our factories should be the ones to be shut down.

Of course, there’s the chance that the EU might step in and have a look at some of these loans and guarantees, many of which seem to be sailing as close as possible to competition legislation intended to stop nationalistic bail-outs.

But that’s in the future, and in the meantime Ford is hurting as rivals like Renault, PSA – and now potentially GM - find themselves with access to life-saving funds.

The irony is that, despite the fact Ford hasn’t produced a passenger car here since the last-but-one Fiesta died in 2001, many older Brits do see Ford as being in some way British, doubtless spurred on by memories of all the Escorts and Cortinas that swarmed out of Halewood and Dagenham in the ‘sixties, ‘seventies and ‘eighties.

So here’s my cheeky suggestion – Ford of Europe should fight back against this nationalistic favouritism with … nationalist favouritism. Since the demise of MG Rover we’ve been short of a national champion, and Ford could easily become ‘our’ manufacturer. Ford’s products do better here than anywhere else in Europe, and would do better still if they could fly the flag.

Plus, getting practical, Ford still owns enough space in Dagenham to build a new production plant and I’ll bet that it could even buy back Halewood from JLR for a bargain price if it needed another factory site.

Move the Focus. S-Max, Galaxy and Mondeo over here, produce the Fiesta and Ka in Poland and use the pound: euro exchange rate to gouge some competitive advantage against subsidised European rivals.

Technorati Tags: Ford, Dagenham, factory

Hyundai Genesis, the start of something special?

Matt Saunders — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:58:00 GMT

What’s the class's view on Hyundai’s tactical approach with its Genesis saloon and coupe? Are we sorry they’re not coming to the UK? Would we honestly consider buying one if they were? More importantly, do we think launching these cars as Hyundais was right?

I’m asking because I’ve just been greatly impressed by the Korean’s company’s 4.6-litre V8 saloon. This car has an abundance of performance, it’s very well screwed together and very nicely kitted out, and it’s pretty much as accommodating and refined as saloon cars get. If a luxurious, good quality motorway cruiser was on your shopping list, and brand allure wasn’t a factor – and if Hyundai UK was offering the opportunity, of course – you’d seriously consider buying one over a £35,000, six-pot 5-series or E-class. Be mad not to.

But brand power matters a great deal to buyers of executive saloons. Many strive for years just to progress up the corporate ladder far enough to get a shot at a 520d or E220 CDi. Hyundai’s just not in a position to motivate buyers like that.

So shouldn’t it have gone the Lexus route, and created a premium brand under which to launch these cars? Well, look at the trouble and expense that Infiniti is having to go to just to roll out in Europe: you need to recruit a whole new dealer network, to spend millions on advertising and creating awareness of your new brand. And with so little cash washing around, now clearly isn’t a great time to do all that.

Talk to company insiders, though, and you discover that Hyundai knows it’ll have to do all of that eventually. For the time being, it’s simply testing the water; showing the world that it’s well capable of competing with the big boys, and planning for the great big global ‘Genesis’ brand introduction with the next generation of its executive saloon and V8 coupe.

Seems like the right idea to me because, come the proper launch in 2015, the Genesis saloon and coupe will have an existing following, and the financial climate should be less of an issue. There’s even talk of a V8 diesel engine in the works. Maybe Hyundai’s got it sussed after all.

Technorati Tags: Hyundai, Genesis, 520d, E220 CDI, Mercedes E-class, BMW 5-series, Genesis