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When it comes to automatic transmissions, four speed auto transmissions are fast getting replaced with more advanced auto transmissions. More automakers are introducing six, seven and even eight speed automatic transmission into their vehicles nowadays. These introductions are made mainly for fuel efficiency reasons, to get more kilometres out of their fuel consumption usage. But, there are also some automakers such as Nissan, who are moving towards the usage of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs). But that is not the case for Hyundai as the Korean automaker has preferred dual clutch transmissions over continuously variable transmissions. Mike O

The Hyundai Veloster (pictured above) has just been released recently and it is one fine looking hatchback. And for those who craves for more power, there is a turbo version (pictured below). There are rumours going around that Hyundai is working on a more powerful version of the Veloster and it would put the car in the hot hatch category with the likes of the Volkswagen GTI and Ford Focus ST. The Hyundai Veloster Turbo shares many parts with the normal Veloster model (for example, same suspension set-up) and some believed that Hyundai has left the Veloster Turbo in this manner to make way for more improvements. The Veloster Turbo currently delivers around 186bhp with roughly 265Nm of torque. Pretty good from a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine. If these rumours are to be true, we should expect an upgrade in suspension set-up, preferably with mechanically adjustable dampeners and independent rear suspension instead of the current V-beam rear set-up. A lower ride would make sense if the car is going to get more power. As for the engine, I am not really sure if more power could be extracted out from the current 1.6-litre turbocharged engine. One option is to feature the 2.0-litre engine from the Hyundai Genesis Coupe which is able to deliver around 274bhp and with 373Nm of torque (with premium unleaded fuel). But it is not known if this option would be financially feasible for the company. Maybe it is still possible to extract a bit more power from the current 1.6-litre powerplant. The Veloster Turbo has just reached our shores and I feel that this is the type of car local consumers would like to take a much closer look at; reasonable engine displacement size with a rather powerful engine. And a more powerful version could probably take on the continental hatchbacks that has dominated the hot hatch segment for many years. Photo credit: Net Car Show

[extract] Hyundai has unveiled the European specced Veloster Turbo at Geneva. This turbocharged version of the quirky Veloster brings a little more power to the car that has all the styling of speed but saddled with only 140 horses from its normally aspirated 1.6-litre engine. With the application of a turbocharger, the Hyundai Veloster Turbo makes 183bhp and about 270Nm torque. Good for the affordable single rear door coupe to have a 0-100km/h time of 8.4seconds compared to the 9.7seconds of the 1180kg normally aspirated car. - The normally aspirated Veloster- This is actually an affordable fastback cum coupe for the masses but unfortunately for us over here, Hyundai has not even brought in the normally aspirated model pictured above. The right hand drive variant has been launched early 2011 and it is already being sold in the UK and Australia. This brings us to the problem of affordability