Autoblog

Hyundai apparently has a mole in its midst, and the insider has revealed that the "Tau" 4.6L V8 destined to power the all-new rear-wheel-drive Genesis luxury sedan will produce a stout 380 horsepower. This is according to a post on the HyundaiExhchange.com forums by forum member Delphi, who has gotten rumors right in the past. The power figure reportedly comes from the head of Hyundai's R&D, Hyun-Soon Lee, who revealed the information in a private speech to South Korean business execs.

Regardless of Delphi's track record with getting rumors right, this is still speculation and should be regarded as such. If true, however, color us impressed with Hyundai's new V8 and hope it also ends up powering the South Korean automaker's new rear-wheel-drive coupe.

[Source: HyundaiExchange via Motive via Jalopnik]

While we were digitally thumbing through the latest virtual issue of Winding Road (subscribe here for free if you haven't already), we were struck by a particularly well done article on the forthcoming Genesis sedan from Hyundai. The WR folk dug deep and unearthed a lot of info about the sedan, and what its new BH platform means for the Korean automaker. For one, the BH platform will spawn four vehicles in total: the Gensis, a long-wheelbase Genesis Plus, a Genesis-esque Kia model, and (drum roll, please) a sporty rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered coupe that may look like the rendering above. Now, no one knows what this coupe will look like or even how far along in development it is, but kudos go to the WR-commissioned artist who created this image, because it looks great.

Assuming a heavy dose of parts sharing will go on between the BH platform mates, we should expect this RWD coupe to be offered with either a V6 or the new "Tau" V8 that will power the Genesis. The "Tau" is said to be capable of "well over" 300 horsepower and we already know the company's 3.8L V6 is a gem, so Hyundai's forthcoming coupe has plenty of powerplant potential. Reportedly, however, none of the BH cars will be offered with a true manual transmission. Instead, we should expect some sort of manually controlled automatics.

Considering that a Genesis equipped with a V6 is rumored to carry a price tag below $30,000, we're curious to know which other RWD coupes you think will be the biggest competition for this car. Would its combination of a low price tag and powerful engine make it attractive to the Mustang crowd, or is Hyundai staring down the grille of Infiniti's new G37? Time will tell, and we can't wait.

[Source: Winding Road - illustration used with permission]