Hyundai Closer to Creating Santa Cruz Pickup, Taking into consideration Second Alabama Plant

Want a smidgen more proof that Hyundai will develop the Santa Cruz pickup concept? Study this 3-sentence write-up from Reuters, which quoted a firm executive in South Korea, and see if you can locate the “yes.”

We cannot, but soon after our longer interview with Hyundai USA’s vice president of product preparing, we’re not shocked that Hyundai’s home base noticed the “good response” soon after the pickup’s Detroit debut. The man quoted is Park Byung-cheol, an R&D director who also talked about “hurdles” to getting it to production.

Apart from trying to sell a small, unibody, Korean pickup in the Home of the Whopper, where full-size, body-on-frame, American pickups are virtually a religion, the biggest hurdle is Hyundai’s Alabama plant. At the moment, it is almost maxed out with about 400,000 Elantra and Sonata models per year, and since the Johnson-era chicken tax levies a 25-% tariff on all imported trucks and vans, it’s ’Bama or bust.

Reports in the Korean press, even so, recommend that Hyundai will develop a second Alabama plant for the Santa Fe—currently assembled at Kia’s Georgia factory alongside the Sorento and the Optima—and add the Tucson. The Santa Cruz could potentially sidle in alongside them. According to the Detroit Totally free Press, the new plant could assistance annual production of 300,000 autos by 2017. Practically nothing is confirmed.

With the Honda Ridgeline returning, there’s at least one manufacturer that thinks a smaller, unconventional pickup is viable in this market. Compared to the Ridgeline, Hyundai’s Santa Cruz is even smaller sized and much more unconventional. But who knows, perhaps it could succeed. It is not like anyone has ever attempted a diesel, front-wheel-drive pickup with a power-extendable bed prior to.

Hyundai Closer to Creating Santa Cruz Pickup, Taking into consideration Second Alabama Plant

A Mighty Wind: Bugatti Rumored To Be Taking into consideration Restricted Run of Veyron Speedsters

In his recent reporting on the Bugatti Chiron, which could pack 1500 horsepower, hit 288 mph, and have swing-up doors, Automobile Magazine’s Georg Kacher stated that the Veyron successor has been delayed until 2016, and with the Veyron’s 450-car run just about finished, a very limited run of speedsters based on the model could be built to “keep the workforce busy.” That is, of course, to say nothing of funneling millions upon millions of bucks into Bugatti’s coffers.

The report provided no hint of what sort of modifications would be made to the car to turn it into a speedster. How much might the windshield be chopped for Speedster duty? Would it have an occasional-use roof panel? Would it use the Veyron name? Will Bugatti replace all the hair lost when owners inevitably perform top-speed runs? Nor did the report give an estimate of how many millions of dollars such a thing would cost.

Predictably, when we inquired, Bugatti was mum on the topic, with spokeswoman Manuela Hoehne stating, “These are speculations we do not comment on, as we, in general, do not participate in speculation about future products.” So we’ll just have to take Kacher’s word for it.

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We sure hope he’s right, as the idea of a Veyron speedster sounds like the stuff of legends—although Bugatti already has cars based on those—and perhaps the most desirable and collectible of all the variants.

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A Mighty Wind: Bugatti Rumored To Be Taking into consideration Restricted Run of Veyron Speedsters

Lotus Taking into consideration Front-Engined Future Models with Proton Drivetrains, Which includes Sedans and Crossovers

So soon after telling you about Lotus’s plans to more than double production of automobiles based on its existing mid-engined platform, what about the a lot more distant future?

When we interviewed organization CEO Jean-Marc Gales at the 2014 Paris auto show, he was content to also speak about his longer term ambitions, but also noted that nothing at all beyond the quick-term method is signed off. For Lotus to have a long-term future, it’s going to want new models.

Gales admitted that, because Lotus is owned by Proton, technologies-sharing with the Malaysian automaker is overwhelmingly likely—and that’s regardless of the Toyota energy of the present Lotus lineup. “If we’re hunting at 4 to 6 years in the future then our partner is Proton,” he said, “Proton is a volume manufacturer and has components modules that we could use for future models.”

But what would those be? Gales confirmed reports that Lotus has been considering creating radically diverse sorts of automobiles from its sports-automobile base, such as sedans and even crossovers. “That’s a distinct possibility. I wouldn’t exclude anything at the moment. I would only exclude anything that does not fit the Lotus brand. There are several suggestions that would allow us to go into entirely diverse categories of solution.” In a globe exactly where Porsche has turn into an SUV manufacturer with a profitable sideline in sports cars, that doesn’t sound as insane as it probably ought to.

Proton Satria Neo (CPS version pictured at the best of the post): Is this exactly where the future requires Lotus?

But with Proton’s entire current lineup becoming front-wheel-drive, the obvious question is no matter whether Lotus could develop a credible model that didn’t send its energy to the rear axle. It’s been accomplished (after) prior to, as the 1990s Elan was a front-driver. Could it actually come about again?

“It was Colin [Chapman] who revolutionized Formula 1 style by putting the engine at the rear. He was the one particular who did it effectively, who won all those championships with it,” says Gales, conveniently neglecting to acknowledge Chapman had followed Cooper’s pioneering F1 vehicles. “For a sports vehicle, it’s a wonderful idea in terms of weight distribution, it is unbeatable on the track. But of course if you don’t construct a focused sports automobile then front-engined cars also have their virtues.”

We have to press him: Does front-engined mean front-drive?

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“I can inform you that if we had been to do a front-engined sports automobile it would be a real Lotus. Which means for ride and handling it could be a benchmark. It will have Lotus DNA and be correct to it.”

That is not really an answer, but it’s all we’re receiving for now. Gales’s greatest present concern is securing the company’s future, so that it is nevertheless around to shock us with Proton-primarily based front-drivers.

Lotus Taking into consideration Front-Engined Future Models with Proton Drivetrains, Which includes Sedans and Crossovers

Tail-Wagging Good News: Lamborghini Taking into consideration Rear-Wheel-Drive Huracán, Other Variants

The reveal of the initial spinoff of Lamborghini’s sensational new Huracán supercar—the radical, rear-wheel-drive Super Trofeo race car—last weekend in Pebble Beach begs the question: Will Lambo create a tail-wagging, rear-wheel-drive Huracán for the street? Effectively, at that identical occasion, Autocar gleaned a hint of an answer from Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann: “We did it with the Gallardo, so it may be an choice,” he said. “We are a 4-wheel-drive super-sports car [manufacturer], but why need to we not do a rear-drive selection?”

The rear-drive Gallardo of which Winkelmann spoke is, of course, the restricted-edition 2010 Gallardo LP550-2 Balboni, which was powered by a 542-hp V-10, which had 10 fewer horsepower than the Gallardo LP560-4 but also lugged about 97 fewer pounds. It was a touch slower to accelerate (turns out 4-wheel grip is a great factor when there’s this a lot energy) but had a character that we described as “more beastly” than the automobile on which it was primarily based. A far more mannerly rear-drive Gallardo LP550-2 Spyder debuted for the Gallardo’s swan-song year, 2013, and was also constructed in very low volumes.

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Apparently, it is less a matter of Lamborghini wanting variations on the Huracán theme than needing them. “We want lots of derivatives,” Winkelmann told Autocar. “Customers expect it, and we often need something new to talk about.” Yeah, because folks do not speak about Lamborghinis adequate.

What other derivatives are on the way? Nicely, if the Gallardo’s item cadence provides us anything to go on, a Huracán Spyder ought to seem within a year, and a lightweight Superleggera coupe and a smattering of particular editions will appear during the cycle, as well. Exactly where the rear-drive Huracán fits into the schedule is anyone’s guess, but we’re content to hear that execs are taking into consideration it.

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Tail-Wagging Good News: Lamborghini Taking into consideration Rear-Wheel-Drive Huracán, Other Variants