Hatchbacks

Detroit 2011: 2012 Hyundai Veloster is a Swiss Army Coupe

Hyundai’s funky, tech-packed Veloster has just debuted at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, and at first blush, the unconventional three-door looks like it’ll go down a storm.

While Hyundai’s North American CEO John Krafcik freely admitted that the Veloster isn’t going to be the quickest car to 60 miles per hour or around a race track (that’s what the Genesis Coupe is for), the Korean nonetheless promises frisky performance from its 1.6-liter engine (138 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 123 pound-feet of torque at 4,850) and available six-speed dual clutch gearbox. A six-speed manual will come as standard-fit, and Hyundai figures that the Veloster will be good for around 40 miles per gallon on the freeway.

Natural Born Winner: VW returns to the ‘Ring with Scirocco GT24-CNG

hase 1: Dominate your class in endurance racing. Phase 2: Continue to dominate your class in endurance racing, only this time do it without gasoline. That seems to be the game plan with the Volkswagen Group’s racing programs, so after winning at Le Mans five times with the gasoline-powered Audi R8 racer (punctuated only by the victory of sister-company Bentley’s Ingolstadt-supported Speed 8), Audi continued its dominance with the diesel-powered R10 TDI. (It’s worth noting that SEAT managed to clinch the 2008 World Touring Car Championship with a diesel-burning Leon TDI, too.) Meanwhile, over at the Nürburgring, Volkswagen itself took a devastating one-two class victory at last year’s 24-hour race with the Scirocco GT24. So what’s the next step? Compressed Natural Gas. That’s what Volkswagen will be pumping into its latest race-prepped Scirocco as the team attempts to prove once again that it can win – even dominate – while burning alternative fuels.

The new Scirocco GT24-CNG uses the same basic architecture as the last year’s car, but with the aid of Compressed Natural Gas, delivers 300 horsepower while returning a 25% improvement in emissions. VW will be campaigning a pair of them at the race in late May in the 2-liter turbocharged category, where they’ll be facing off against the new Subaru Impreza STI, among others. Will Wolfsburg be able to follow up on last year’s victory using alternative fuels? Only time will tell, but the team will also be campaigning three additional gasoline-powered Sciroccos…you know, just in case.

Singapore gets special Volkswagen GTI V50

Singapore has been singled out to receive a hotted up version of their Mark V Volkswagen GTI dubbed GTI V50. This gift to the island nation gets upgrades from APR including a Stage 1 ECU tune that adds 36 more horsepower and an additional 74 lb-ft of torque. Also underneath are a VW R32 brakes and calipers and a VW Performance exhaust. Together they’ll turn your 0-to-60 run into a 5.6-second affair, which takes more than a second off the standard GTI.