Review Spec Price and Manual

Four of General Motors full-size truck plants, three of them in the U.S., will go intermittently silent for a total of 21 weeks in order to retool for 2013 model year production. The Fort Wayne, Indiana and Flint, Michigan plants have both been in the news lately as recipients of multi-million dollar investments for just this purpose.

Fort Wayne will shut down for nine weeks over the course of 10 months, from January to October of 2012, while Flint will stop production for seven weeks from June to November, and the Arlington, Texas facility will be quiet from June to December for five weeks. The Mexico plant in Silao will find out its shut-down schedule next year. GM has been stockpiling a 90-day supply of its Silverado and Sierra pickups to make up for the loss of production.

When the 2013 models arrive, unconfirmed reports indicate we can expect a new forced-induction V6, the continuation of the 5.3- and 6.0-liter V8s, and the 6.2-liter V8 going into the heavy-duty versions exclusively.

As much as we love the 2012 Hyundai Veloster, its the 2013 Turbo model that really gets our juices flowing (especially in matte gray, for the record). It takes that unique three-door (four-door?) configuration one step further with the addition of some more aggressive aero bits, a revised front end and new wheels; not to mention a potent 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four underhood, good for 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque.

The Veloster Turbo goes on sale this summer, and while official pricing hasnt been released, the folks at Inside Line have apparently confirmed that the car will start at $21,500 – $22,280 when you factor in the $760 destination charge. Thats $4,205 more than a base Veloster, but in addition to more power, we expect that some of the base cars optional features will be fitted as standard kit on the Turbo.

Whats really interesting, however, is Inside Lines report that the Turbo model was never even part of the original Veloster product strategy here in the United States. No big deal, because were still getting the forced-induction hatch regardless. But the real reason why this is important is it explains why the Turbo is being offered with a six-speed automatic (in addition to a six-speed manual) rather than the dual-clutch unit found in the base car. Guess that in-house dual-clutch unit cant handle the full 195 lb-ft of the Turbo.

We expect Hyundai to release official Veloster Turbo pricing closer to the cars on-sale date this summer. And if this $21,500 base MSRP stands true, then the affordable end of Americas hot hatch pool just got a lot more interesting.