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Obviously, Custom Hyundai Veloster-Raptor is Dino-mite!

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Hyundai Veloster-Raptor blue

The Veloster has always been an odd bird in Hyundai’s flock. This compact, asymmetrical, 3-door hatchback has some mediocre strength compared to other Hyundai models but sits in an odd semi-power-hungry segment competing with the Scion tC or the Kia Forte. Plus, without the SR Turbo upgrade, it’s pretty underwhelming.

The Veloster still relatively young, having only been around for a couple years, and usually gets overlooked. But it has become a favorite of SEMA participants for one simple reason: it has a wealth of untapped potential.

That’s just what Hyundai Australia engineers wanted to prove when they modified a blue Veloster by pumping it up into a ferocious Hyundai Veloster-Raptor.

Wait a minute–did that just say “Velociraptor”? Oh my god….

Wow The Fountain

 

The Hyundai Veloster-Raptor Bares Its Claws in Australia

First of all, that name deserves a round of applause. The Hyundai Veloster-Raptor…friggin’ genius.

Secondly, no you can’t buy it. Despite accelerating, handling, and stopping better than any available Veloster, it was only a proof-of-concept attempt by the automaker to see what the model can do.

“The car is an experiment [put together by Hyundai Australia’s engineering team] and it’s an exploration of how far you can take the Veloster platform,” Hyundai Australia’s public relations manager Bill Thomas was nice enough to tell the world.

Hyundai Veloster-Raptor blue
So how did his team improve the Hyundai Veloster-Raptor? By adding a returned ECU, black Rays wheels, lowered King Springs with revealed dampers, a Quafe limited-slip differential, and cat-back exhaust for a louder roar. That’s still a 1.6-liter engine which now yields 234 lb-ft of torque and 261 horsepower.

There are two good pieces of news from this endeavor: Hyundai Australia says it definitely saw potential in the mod, and the mod could feasibly sell at less than $40,000.

Actually, there’s a third piece: that absolutely killer name.