A Peek at Cars to Come

By Bill McLauchlan

Though the shiny auto baubles unwrapped at the 84th Geneva Auto Show garnered most of this week’s new product news, an interesting snippet emerged from the other side of the world with something of more immediate interest for Canadian family car buyers.

Hyundai’s next chart-topper?
Yesterday, Korean automaker Hyundai previewed its soon-to-be-launched, all-new Sonata sedan with the release of these first official renderings. The Korean version of the Sonata is scheduled to make its world premiere later this month in its home market while the Sonata we’ll see on our roads will be seen for the first time in April during the upcoming New York International Auto Show.

PR NewsFoto/Hyundai Motor America

PR NewsFoto/Hyundai Motor America

As you can see from these exterior and interior images this fresh treatment is likely to hit the right note with current Sonata owners and bring some new converts to the fast-growing Hyundai band.

Say Hi to Hazumi
While it is a dazzling show replete with many new models being seen for the first time, there aren’t very many from the Geneva event that we can look forward to over here, at least in the near future.

But one introduction that did catch our attention appeared when Mazda revealed its new Hazumi concept car. Why should that interest you? Well, the Japanese company stated the tidy little, dramatically-styled Hazumi “foreshadows Mazda’s next-generation subcompact car.” Reading between the lines, we’d say you’re looking at the replacement for the current entry-level Mazda2 model.

Photo: NewspressUSA

While it does carry the ‘concept’ tag, the Hazumi has all the earmarks of a close-to-production vehicle.

Also at the show, Mazda revealed for the first time a newly developed small-displacement clean diesel engine, the SKYACTIV-D 1.5. Like the currently available SKYACTIV technology in the gasoline engines powering the Mazda3 and Mazda6 we get here, this new diesel is both highly efficient and clean-burning while delivering exceptional performance with powerful torque and smooth acceleration. No word on whether or not we’ll see this new small diesel when the Hazu … er new Mazda2 makes its showroom debut on our shores.