Hyundai Motor to launch Veloster in China

HONG KONG, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. will launch its new compact passenger vehicle, the Veloster, in China next week, company officials said Tuesday, in a bid to attract young Chinese consumers.
The new car has been drawing keen attention worldwide as it is the first Hyundai vehicle with asymmetrical side doors -- one on the driver's side and two on the passenger side.
Hyundai Motor executives said they will likely start selling the new "premium unique" model of the vehicle next Monday, mainly targeting fashion-forward customers who are in their 20's and 30's.
The new five-seater comes with Hyundai's 1.6-liter Gamma engine that produces 140 maximum horsepower and maximum torque of 17 kilogram-meters. The car has an average fuel economy of 15.3 kilometers per liter.
Various amenities, such as a button-start smart key system, a rearview camera and a vehicle dynamics control, or VDC, system that automatically stabilizes the vehicle in harsh driving conditions, will be standard in the model.
The South Korean automaker sold a total of 63,036 units in China last month, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier and a 21.2-percent rise from the previous month.
Hyundai Motor has aggressively pushed into China, which has become the world's single largest automobile market.
China overtook the United States as the world's largest automobile market in 2009 and 2010.
Last year, the world's No. 2 economy saw its auto sales surge more than 32 percent on-year to hit 18.06 million vehicles