Report: Hyundai i-flow concept could become Euro i40 in 2011

Mar 10th 2010 at 10:58AM

Hyundai i-Flow Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

Hyundai's Geneva Motor Show concept, the plug-in hybrid i-Flow, is expected to spawn a new production car for the European market called the i40 in early 2011. The i40 will be a D-segment model meant to compete with the likes of the Ford Mondeo and Opel Insignia. Oddly, that puts it in the same size segment as the recently launched Sonata. It's not clear if the i40 will be sold instead of the Sonata in Europe or alongside it. Since Hyundai hasn't released dimensions of the i-Flow (at least not that we have seen) it could also be a replacement for the slightly larger Azera.

The production i40 is expected to debut with an estate/station wagon body style followed later by a sedan. It's not known if the diesel-hybrid (or the gas hybrid of the Sonata) powertrain of the concept will make it to production, but automatic start-stop will be there.