New Hyundai V8 Unit to Produce 429 HP

Rumor has it Hyundai's 5.0-liter Tau V8 will produce 429 horsepower and 376 lb-ft (510 Nm) of torque. The information was leaked by an engineer during an event at the company's research and development center in South Korea. That's 17 hp more than the Ford Mustang GT and 9 hp more than Infiniti's 5.6-liter V8, which produces 420 hp.

The 5.0 liter Tau engine is a bored-out, direct injection variant of the current 4.6 liter Tau V8 that produces 375 horsepower and 333 lb-ft (451 Nm). That's an increase of 59 hp and 8 lb-ft over the engine it's based on. Bore increases to 96 mm, while stroke remains unchanged at 87 mm. Fuel economy also increases by 1 mpg to 18/26 (13/9 liters per 100 km). The newest Tau will be coupled with an eight speed automatic gearbox designed and manufactured by Hyundai.

The engine will equip Hyundai's flagship model, the Equus, although Hyundai will reportedly offer the new powerplant in the 2011 Genesis sedan as well. It is still unclear if Hyundai will discontinue the 4.6 liter Tau or keep on offering both engines.

On a much smaller scale, Hyundai released information on a new 1.0-liter Kappa inline three cylinder engine that will be offered in the i10 subcompact. Currently, the engine produces 69 hp and has a rating of 55 mpg. Although the 1.0-liter engine isn't currently on offer in the US, future versions of the Kappa could be released on the North American market. A tubocharged, 110 hp version of the inline three will be offered with US models and a 1.2-liter Kappa, which is expected to produce around 130 to 140 hp, will be released shortly afterwards.