Hyundai Veloster (2011) first official pictures

Hyundai today finally unveiled its eagerly awaited Veloster coupe at the 2011 North American International Auto Show, aka the Detroit show. It's a coupe-cum-hatchback, along the lines of the VW Scirocco. We first saw the Veloster as a concept car at the 2007 Seoul motor show.

Fuel protests halt Spanish car production

By Dimitri Pesin Motoring Issues 16 June 2008 10:25 Fuel protests in Europe triggered by the soaring cost of fuel have drastically reduced car production in Spain this month.  Last week's truck blockades and fuel depot pickets in Madrid caused car plants around the country to cut production. Seat, Citroen Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz all have factories in Spain and most said they were affected.Seat production slashed by 40 percentSeat said its main Martorell plant was operating at 40 percent capacity, with production of the Leon and Altea models severely affected. However, the protests won’t delay sales of the new Ibiza, a spokesman promised, and assembly of cars in the factory is expected to return to normal this week.

Hyundai puts Michel Nandan in charge of WRC effort

Hyundai has appointed former Peugeot WRC technical director Michel Nandan to head up their assault on WRC. As Hyundai matures in to a credible mainstream force, improving brand perception is crucial to its long-term goals and 2012 is all about improving Hyundai’s brand experience and perceptions of the brand. A part of that focus is to take Hyundai back in to WRC rallying with a much modified i20, where Hyundai are hoping for a better experience than they had when they went rallying a decade ago – which should be a given considering the big strides Hyundai has made in its cars in the last few years.