Hyundai mulling five-door Veloster for U.S.

There's plenty to love about the Hyundai Veloster. Elegance might not be one of those things, but depending on your perspective, its unique door arrangement surely is. It's got one door on the driver's side, two on the passenger and a big liftgate around back. But now it looks set to get one more door, as a new report from Car and Driver suggests a second aperture is planned for the left side, bringing the total door count up to a more conventional five.

The second driver's side door is reportedly being installed for markets like the UK, where the driver sits on the wrong other side (a similar problem to what Mini found with the Clubman). But that addition could be destined for the US market as well. For our part we'll echo C/D's sentiment that we'd sooner have a turbocharged Veloster in Hyundai showrooms than a five-door version, but we'll take what we can get. For now.

The Veloster with the extra door wouldn't be the only new five-door planned for Hyundai's lineup, as an Elantra Touring based on the new European-market i30 sportwagon/hatchback is widely expected to make the transatlantic voyage as well. Apparently the Korean automaker thinks there's enough room in its range for both.