Hyundai i-flow Concept to debut at Geneva 2010

The sketch above previews the Hyundai i-flow concept, which will make its world debut at the Geneva show at the end of this month. Hyundai says this concept will preview a future D-segment competitor – but really, is it time for a new D-segment competitor so soon when the Sonata has just been revealed? The Sonata already has a coupe-like roofline so it would be quite overkill for them to do a “Passat CC CC” with another take on a D-segment car.

This is just a hunch but it could be possible that what Hyundai meant in its press release as D-segment is different from what we normally consider as D-segment cars. In the US, what we call D-segment cars are CD-segment cars. The Camry is a CD car, while Toyota’s D car is the Avalon. Hyundai had a model like that – the Azera, and it was even sold here in Malaysia. The Azera was first launched in 2005 and it’s about time for a 5-year lifecycle full replacement model to arrive!

This new concept car could be slotted in between the Sonata and the Genesis as Hyundai’s most expensive front wheel drive executive car (taking the place of the Azera) before we start to enter Genesis rear wheel drive territory. But then again I could be wrong and this is really a “double CC” version of the Sonata.

The same press release also says this new i-flow concept will be used by chemical company BASF (there’s a good chance you use BASF products in your car everyday – they make petrol additives too) as a platform to showcase some technology such as lightweight materials, and solar cells.