back to article Hyundai readies Volt-style hybrid

Due to be unveiled at next month's Seoul Motor Show, the Hyundai Blue-Will is the Korean take on the plug-in parallel hybrid. Hyundai's Blue-Will Hyundai's Blue-Will... must resist the temptation to add a 'y' Odd name – what's the likelihood someone will scrawl a 'y' at the end of it? – and challenging styling aside, the …

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  1. Eugene Goodrich
    Paris Hilton

    Coincidences often have an unrelated, common cause

    In this case I think the 40 mile all-electric range is because in my parts, at least, 20 miles each way is seen as the "sweet spot" for capturing daily commuter traffic.

    Paris because she's a sweet spot.

  2. Eddy Ito

    WTF?

    I can't fathom why it is smiling when it looks as a Honda was shoved up its arse.

  3. Charles Manning

    Looks like a baleen whale

    Maybe they can't call it Free Willy for TM reasons.

  4. Vendicar Decarian
    Boffin

    GM, Chrysler, Ford = Dead Meat

    Japan, North Korea, China and now India are the new automotive manufacturing superpowers in the world.

    The collapse of the failed American state continues to accelerate.

  5. simon
    Coat

    Blue-Will

    The ostermobile?

  6. Peter D'Hoye

    Name...

    First thing I thought of when I saw the car - even before reading the name - was a whale. So Blue Will -> Blue Whale ?

  7. Gareth Jones Silver badge

    Lip service will be resumed...

    Again it seems that manufacturers are paying lip service to the concept of green motoring. Like most hybrids this thing will run on IC most of the time. It will however cost a lot more than a purely IC powered car. So the manufacturer will make more money if they can convince everybody to buy "green".

  8. Simon Neill

    That car....

    Has a great evil grin. I want it.

  9. Matt Bradley

    Challenging Styling?

    Looks like the offspring of a BMW 1 series and a new shape Honda Civic. That's a bit like being hit with the ugly stick twice. Still: I quite like it. Maybe I'm just perverse.

  10. Anton Ivanov
    Thumb Down

    Re: Looks like a baleen whale

    Exactly, my thought as well. With dis-proportionally small flippers (cameras instead of mirrors I guess).

    It is also not particularly green. Lugging around a 156 bhp engine will definitely cost money. Especially if it is an engine made by Hyundai and not let's say Daihatsu).

    It is clearly an evolutionary dead-end like the Prius. A motor-in-wheel hybrid with an optimised constant rpm generator will cost much less and be much more drive-able. Though as this is a hyundai nobody expects it to be drive-able anyway.

  11. CockKnocker
    Thumb Up

    not bad

    Out of all the tree-hugger cars Iv'e seen so far, (apart from the tesla) this doesnt look half bad. Well compared to the abortion that is the "Pious"!

  12. Liam Johnson

    0-60 <- this doesn't couint as a title?

    So, with 280HP of combined motor power, how fast does it manage 0-60?

  13. James Taylor
    Thumb Up

    new hyundai coupe?

    with 280hp from a 1.6 engine this could be a pretty nippy vehicle

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What is it with looks??

    You people are obsessed with looks which to be honest are irrelivant.. How many cars still look like thier first incarnation Golf? Fiesta?

    Surely the tech is whats important.. but still missing... energery recovery is a must.. call it KErs or whatever its still electromagnetic brakes (like some rollercoasters!)

    Get rid of direct drive engines power over a wide band is inneficient, we should be looking at fuel for generators and purely electric drive systems.. (eg honda clarity) if you were to use in wheel motors (excuse the unsprung weight temporarilly) you can strip out an entire transmission, and use them as electromagnetic brakes!

    Now to deal with unsprung weight.. Pancake motors! very light Carbon Disc with Printed Copper Tracks, (lighter than a brake disc! even ceramic) A big chunky copper coil (about the size of a steel hydraulic caliper block) and hey presto an in wheel system that is no heavier than todays.. in fact the disc's dont get so hot.. and if you use fluid to cool the coil you dont need heat resistant wheels meaning new materials eg carbon for rims.. and extra weight savings...

    Oh and did I infer no drive shaft weight either...

  15. Mark Hartman

    Volt or Prius?

    Seems more akin to a Prius than the totally electric Volt, making comparison to the latter a poor journalistic choice.

    Speaking of Prius, why all the bashing (by non-Prius Hummer owners, I assume). Sure it's not ideal, but it's the best available TODAY. I've averaged 53 mpg over 40k miles in the last 3 years with ours. Get your heads out of your asses, Prius-bashing-dumbasses.

  16. Kevin Whitefoot
    Thumb Up

    @What is it with looks??

    At last a sensible response to the unsprung weight criticism. But why AC?

  17. CC
    Black Helicopters

    A pregnant life raft??

    Looks like a Blue whale at feeding time...no new technology there just more of the same stuff that will never see the light of day and is already outdated to boot.

  18. ian

    Is it powered by krill?

    A Japanese whaler is likely to harpoon it by accident, unless the whaler is named Honda or Toyota. Especially given the crap drive system...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Mark Hartman

    53mpg isn't particularly good you know. You can get better than that from plenty of motors these days. And those cars that can better 53mpg (mostly diesels, natch) cost a whole lot less to buy than your Pious. So you're paying more for your fuel bills AND more to buy the car in the first place than the owner of a pretty average oil burner.

    Now who'd the dumbass?

  20. David Halko

    North Korea? Prius?

    Vendicar Decarian posts, "Japan, North Korea, China and now India are the new automotive manufacturing superpowers in the world."

    I've never heard of North Korea as one of the "automotive manufacturing superpowers" - I thought they were starving to death there?

    Mark Hartman posts, "Sure it's not ideal, but it's the best available TODAY. I've averaged 53 mpg over 40k miles in the last 3 years with ours."

    The cost of the Prius does not necessarily justify the savings in gasoline consumed over 3-5 years. A economically conscious decision would not place this at the top of a buyer's list.

    It was not that long ago when one could buy a 4 door Dodge Colt sedan and get 40MPG with a peppy engine that leveraged 3 valves per cylinder.

    Then again, cars could be much simpler and less expensive to produce back then.

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