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2017 Hyundai i30 to Spawn Five-Door Liftback Coupe Variant

Having joined Hyundai and Kia as chief design officer in 2006, Peter Schreyer has turned around the South Korean company from a boring carmaker to a global player in the auto industry. And as it happens, surprises continue to flood Schreyer’s agenda.
2017 Hyundai i30 body styles, including five-door liftback / fastback coupe 11 photos
Photo: Motoring.com.au
2017 Hyundai i30 body styles, including five-door liftback / fastback2017 Hyundai i30 body styles, including five-door liftback / fastbackHyundai i30 five-door liftback / fastback2017 Hyundai i30 hatchback and station wagon2017 Hyundai i302017 Hyundai i302017 Hyundai i302017 Hyundai i302017 Hyundai i302017 Hyundai i30
The newest labor of love from the designer who reinvented the Volkswagen Beetle for the 21st century and brought us the Audi TT is the 2017 Hyundai i30. Due to make its public outing later this week at the Paris Auto Show, the third-generation Hyundai i30 will be initially available as a hatchback.

Then, the South Korean manufacturer will debut the five-door station wagon, after which a third variation will follow. As per the featured photograph, taken during a recent presentation held by Schreyer, the third body style will come in the form of a five-door liftback coupe. First reported by Motoring, the third variant in the 2017 Hyundai i30 lineup is described as “a cut-price rival to the Mercedes-Benz CLA. Instead of a sedan-coupe, however, the i30 variant will have five-doors with an opening rear hatch.” Exciting stuff, alright.

Being such a broadly used term, fastback is probably the better word to describe the shadowy silhouette on the left side of the featured photograph. But as compared to the Mercedes-Benz CLA, the third member of the 2017 Hyundai i30 family will see its rear window and trunk door integrated into a hatch in a very similar fashion to the Chrysler Crossfire. Sure, an elegant sedan would’ve been more like it, but then again, do remember that this model will be priced like a run-of-the-mill Hyundai, not a plushy Merc.

On that note, the five-door liftback body style also offers more cargo capacity than a fastback-like four-door sedan, which can only be described as a plus point. Then again, it’s too soon for us to talk about powertrain options. It’s safe to assume that most of the engines available in the i30 hatchback will find their way under the hood of the not-yet-ready-to-debut body style.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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