The press release came out and announced the latest intentions for Hyundai Motor America - they want to take the aftermarket tuning world by storm. They've previously announced a partnership with Rhys Millen Racing, but the newest partnership with HKS could be much bigger news.
The reason is simple, HKS makes and sells parts. Parts availability is what drives the popularity of cars. Scions, Civics, and WRXs; all had loads and loads of parts for sale. HKS' Genesis Coupe 2.0t will debut at the 2008 SEMA Show and will feature a GT Turbo upgrade, engine internals, exhaust, Super Mega Flow Intake system, engine management ECU, Kenstyle body kit, CAMP2 system, and Hipermax III coilover suspension system. Yup, that's a truckload of parts and HKS could just very well be leading the way towards Genesis-coolness. It's obvious they're starting with the turbocharged in-line four version of the Genesis Coupe and are turning up the wick. The V6 model makes around 306bhp and the turbo four around 210bhp, but boost is oh-so easy to increase. The experience HKS has with Millen's turbo four Solstice drift car will surely come in handy here.
"Genesis Coupe has the basic DNA that HKS looks for - an excellent chassis, rear-wheel drive, aggressive styling and a new generation turbo-charged engine. These attributes provide the opportunity for HKS to maximize the Genesis Coupe driving performance capabilities for the serious driving enthusiast," said Rick Lafferty, president, HKS USA, Inc. "HKS is allocating R&D, engineering and prototyping resources to lay the groundwork for HKS-brand Genesis Coupe performance parts. We are looking forward to working with Hyundai to realize the full performance potential of the Genesis Coupe."
Not sure if that's just PR speak for "Hyundai paid us a bunch of money to R&D this SEMA car" but, if the parts are real (and HKS has some serious tuning cred), then Hyundai could find themselves with a few more interested buyers. Count us among them.