All-New 2019 Hyundai Veloster Spotted in the Wild

TopSpeed

By Kirby Garlitos

Published Dec 19, 2017

Take a deep breath and see if you like how the new Veloster looks like

Six years after it was first introduced, the Hyundai Veloster is officially getting a second-generation model. We already know about this bit. We’ve even seen it rock colorful camouflage as recently as a month ago. But we haven’t seen the all-new Veloster in its natural form, free from any camo that hides its body. Until now…

Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the new Hyundai Veloster. It’s not a full-blown improvement from the previous-generation model, but it does have a more rounded design that could appeal to buyers who were turned off by the last model's quirkiness. The design of the front section is vastly different. The headlights are smaller and feature a different set of LED daytime running lights. Hyundai also removed the smiley-face grille from the previous-generation model, replacing it with a more traditional hexagon grille. My only complaint is that the grille looks a too big for the Veloster. Look how it completely dominates the real estate space in this section of the hatchback. It takes attention away from the new number and the vertical air intakes, two of the better aesthetic features of the new Veloster.

The rear section looks better than the previous version. The taillights look sharper and edgier. The rear bumper still rides high and appears to protrude from the tailgate. It’s a good aesthetic to look at from the outside, but the drawback to the bumper riding so high is that the window at the back looks ridiculously small. How can you see clearly with that small of a window?

Aesthetics aside, the next-gen Veloster is tipped to carry a pair of turbocharged engines -- a 1.4-liter and a 1.6-liter -- each to be paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. There’s no word on how much power these two mills will carry, but we’ll know soon enough because the 2019 Veloster will be unveiled at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show this coming January.

The early returns look promising. Now we wait to see if the hatchback really is as good as we think it’s going to be.