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All the Hyundai Santa Cruz needs now is the green light

Ever since Hyundai took the wraps off the Santa Cruz concept nearly a year ago, we've been closely watching to see if the Korean automaker would put it into production. The signs have been looking good, but this could be our clearest indication yet. According to the company's North American product planning chief, the road ahead is clear for the compact pickup. "We're very anxious to do something with the idea," Mike O'Brien told AutoGuide. "The engineering feasibility work has been done," and 18 months of preparation have already gone into laying out the business case. Now all it needs is the green light from the head office. Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz concept – codenamed HCD-15 – at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. The design calls for a compact pickup crossover, similar in concept to the Honda Ridgeline, but smaller. It would be targeted towards young customers interested in outdoor activities who don't want to track the elements inside their vehicle along with their mountain bikes, kayaks, surfboards, and snowboards. If approved, the Santa Cruz would likely share its underpinnings with the Tucson crossover. Hyundai sells a good 50,000 Tucsons each year in the US, and the Santa Cruz is estimated to match (if not exceed) that number, helping Hyundai double its sales based on the same platform. The Santa Cruz is also tipped to be Hyundai's first diesel model in America. "The diesel is the most promising because of the fuel economy it delivers," said O'Brien. "It best matches in our research of what these customers are looking for... Outstanding fuel economy, good torque and good driveability."

Hyundai, BMW in plant talks with Mexican officials

BMW and Hyundai may be joining the rush for the border that has already seen Nissan, Honda and Mazda begin factory construction in Mexico, while Ford and General Motors have both made significant investments in their Mexican facilities. BMW's interest in Mexico has been apparent for some time, and while we'd heard grumblings about Hyundai's move into Latin America some time ago, the last we heard about it was in 2009.
This new move, reported by Bloomberg, doesn't get specific on which models will be produced south of the Rio Grande, and as neither automakers' spokespeople responded to the business site's request for statements, all we really have to go on are the statements of Mexico's Economy Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo: "I cannot talk for them, but I think that starting 2014 we'll have new announcements. At least for one." Which manufacturer that will be remains anyone's guess, although judging by all the recent scuttlebutt that's been going around, the smart money seems to be on BMW. We'll stay with this one.

New Hyundai Veloster N sports a big wing under its camouflage

Hyundai is deep into development of the second-gen Veloster, the follow-up to the odd asymmetric hot hatch. The first car was good, but it wasn't quite great, missing the mark on a number of details. In the intervening years, Hyundai products have improved across the board and no longer require any hedging or justification as a value proposition. Hopefully the same is true with the new car. The spy photos we have hear appear to show the Veloster N, the high performance version of the hatch. N is Hyundai's new in-house tuner. The group is working on a more powerful version of the i30, known in the US as the Elantra GT. Despite the camouflage, we can see that the Veloster in these photos has a number of upgrades that give away the N tuning. This includes large wheels, big brakes with red calipers, big exhaust outlets, and what appears to be a large Civic Type R-style wing. There are few other details we can make out, but the most obvious and notable is the asymmetric door setup. The car will have two doors on the passenger side and just one on the driver's side, just like the first model. We don't know how much power the car will make, but expect somewhere close to 250 horsepower from a turbocharged four-cylinder. Look for a full reveal sometime in the next year. Related Video: Featured Gallery Hyundai Veloster N spy shots View 16 Photos Spy Photos Hyundai Hatchback Performance hyundai veloster n