Shanghai 2009: Hyundai shows off two hybrids

Hyundai brought two hybrid vehicles to the Shanghai Motor Show this week. The first one is based on the popular Santa Fe crossover utility vehicle platform, and it adds a 30kW electric motor to the 2.4L four cylinder engine. The dual power sources send their power through a 6-speed automatic transmission, and the Korean automaker believes the setup can increase fuel economy and reduce emissions by 50-60 percent, which would be quite impressive if true.

Hyundai believes it could see similar 50-60 percent improvements from its second hybrid in Shanghai, in this case based on the Avante (that's the Elantra to much of the world) compact sedan platform. Both the Santa Fe and Avante hybrids feature a full parallel system, which features regenerative braking, stop/start and the ability to travel solely on electric power.

Like the Forte Hybrid from corporate cousin Kia, Hyundai's Avante Hybrid runs on liquefied petroleum gas (propane), which also leads us to believe that Hyundai is likely using the same lithium polymer battery packs from LG Chem.

[Source: Autoblog Chinese]