Fountain Valley - We’ve seen plenty of spy shots of Hyundai’s next-generation Veloster over the past few months, always wearing the same funky multicoloured camouflage that you see here.
But this teaser video, entitled ‘Live Loud’ lends a whole new dimension to the speculation surrounding the 2019 Veloster - about which Hyundai has released no details at all, other than that it exists, which is common knowledge anyway.
The buzz around the cybergarage was that the new Veloster would be launched, depending on the market, with either the current 150kW / 265Nm 1.6-litre turbopetrol GDI four, or a 115kW / 195Nm two-litre petrol four borrowed from the new Elantra Elite - to be followed in the fullness of time by an N version with the 202kW / 352Nm two-litre turbopetrol four from the i30N.
But the soundtrack on this video is far more suggestive of a V6 engine.
Assuming that it’s not a post-production edit, that suggests that the new Veloster may be offered in some markets with a whole lot more muscle than the current generation; imagine, if you will, the stubby little Veloster with the 3.3-litre G6DH petrol V6 found in the global version (but not in South Africa) of the Santa Fe SUV, wielding 216kW and a useful 342Nm. Yes, please.
The timing of this promo video (and the dates in the final shot) also make it more likely that the second-generation Veloster will see the light of day for the first time at the Detroit motor show in the second week of January - then we’ll see how close our guesstimates actually were.