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Hyundai's all-new 2018 hydrogen-powered CUV comes into focus

It's no secret that Hyundai has plans for hydrogen-powered vehicles beyond the currently available Tucson Fuel Cell. Ever since the debut of the Intrado concept at the Geneva Motor Show in early 2014, Hyundai has been dropping hints about what the new big-ish H2 vehicle will offer. We say "big-ish" because Hyundai Motor Group's director of eco-vehicle development, Ahn Byung-ki, told Automotive News that the next-gen hydrogen powertrain will find a home in a "totally new" model that will be "somewhere between a CUV and SUV." So, whatever fancy new automotive segment that phrase happens to define – MUV, for middleweight utility vehicle? – is what Hyundai's new hydrogen offering will be. Under the hood, the upcoming vehicle will use a fuel cell that doesn't need as much platinum and will have a bigger battery and a smaller motor. We had originally heard that this new hydrogen CUV/SUV would arrive in 2020, but Ahn said that the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea will be "a big event. That's always a good opportunity for PR." With the Intrado concept, Hyundai said it was, "far more than a styling exercise." We've since heard that Hyundai believes that a CUV/SUV model offers the best option for customers buying a fuel cell vehicle. Earlier this year, Hyundai's head of the company's fuel cell research, Sae-Hoon Kim, said that, "all customer feedback says range and boot space are the priorities." The Intrado concept had a supposed range of around 375 miles. What that would translate to outside of the fictional auto show universe is unknown, but it sounds like Hyundai is ready to make all of this more real. Related Video: Featured Gallery Hyundai Intrado Concept: Geneva 2014 View 16 Photos News Source: Automotive News – sub. req. Green Hyundai Green Automakers SUV Hydrogen Cars h2 hyundai intrado

2018 Hyundai Sonata Sport Quick Spin Review | Returning to the revolution

The 2018 Hyundai Sonata represents a course correction of the sort that just wasn't needed with the previous-generation model. Besides a few added features here and there, that car really didn't change much during the course of its lifetime, and frankly, it didn't need to. When something works, don't screw it up. It arrived at a time when Honda and Toyota were pretty much phoning it in, and boasted a revolutionary design that quite literally changed the way midsize family sedans look to this day. Toyota designer Ian Cartabiano told me that Sonata was one of the few cars over the years that made his fellow designers wake up a bit and realize the game was changing. Then, after staging a revolution, Hyundai played it safe. The Sonata introduced three years ago was conservative to the point of anonymity outside, while not really moving the needle on the vehicle dynamics front. If there was one, clear area where that revolutionary Sonata fell short -- and indeed virtually every Hyundai -- it was in the sophistication and poise it demonstrated out on the road. Well, after the cool reception to the model redesign, Hyundai got a wake up call of its own. This 2018 Hyundai Sonata gets a rather significant facelift, adopting the curvy trapezoidal grille found on more recently introduced models, and ditching its conservative anonymity for a more organic overall appearance certainly in keeping with its "Fluidic Sculpture" predecessor. The rear was also redone with more tapered, dare I say "aggressive" taillights and the license plate relocated to the bumper. Is the end result a great-looking car? Shoulder shrug, but it's sure better than before. Compare the 2018 Hyundai Sonata to its rivals using the Autoblog Compare Cars tool. 2018 Hyundai Sonata Sport View 5 Photos However, I knew the 2018 Sonata looked different. I was quite frankly not expecting it to drive different, because when you review cars long enough, you start to know what a particular brand's cars feel like behind the wheel. There'll be subtle changes over the years, but the language remains the same. Well, the Sonata has been hitting the Rosetta Stone. The change is immediately apparent. The on-center steering feel is crisp, the turn-in more immediate and effort is consistent. It just feels "right" now whereas before turning the Sonata was one of numb indifference.

Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Detroit Auto Show [w/poll]

Here at Autoblog, we love unexpected debuts at auto shows – and judging by our Detroit Auto Show comments and traffic, you do, too. Surprise reveals have been fewer and farther between in recent years with so many ways for vehicles to be teased or leak out, but this week's show has been a revelation. More to the point, it's been a series of revelations, with automakers from around the globe successfully delivering a brace of concept and production surprises. It's made our jobs a lot more exciting and challenging this week, and even though it's actually more work to react and run-and-gun when the sheet is pulled on a surprise reveal than it is to publish an already-written embargoed story, we've had more fun covering this show for you than any domestic show in memory. We hope you've enjoyed the surprises along with us. To that end, borrowing the words of an unnamed automaker PR flack, we'd like to thank the following automakers for enduring "mountain of antacids" and that "creeping sense of paranoia" necessary to keeping ones' wares totally under wraps until the sheets are pulled off the sheetmetal: Buick Avenir concept Chevrolet Bolt concept Ford GT concept Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Hyundai HCD-15 Santa Cruz concept And while we're at it, we'd like to throw in an shout-out to Detroit's substantially revised and revitalized Cobo Center, and in particular, the redone Michelin media center, which is arguably the single best accommodations for writing show stories that we've encountered on the entire international circuit. Well done, everyone. Thank you, and keep the surprises coming. Auto News Detroit Auto Show Buick Chevrolet Ford Hyundai Volvo 2015 Detroit Auto Show