2011 Hyundai Equus arrives to take on the big guns

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2011 Hyundai Equus arrives to take on the big guns

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed) on Apr 1st 2010 at 10:45AM

When the first Hyundai Excels rolled onto American roads in the late-1980s, it was hard to image the Korean automaker getting taken seriously as a builder of budget cars. Taking on the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW would have been an absurd thought. And yet later this year that is exactly what Hyundai is doing as the new Equus begins to arrive at American dealers.

Visually, the the Equus hasn't changed much in its trip across the Pacific. For the U.S. market, the winged hood ornament had been discarded in favor of a flush mounted badge with the same logo that adorned the trunk lid of the Korean market model. The bars of the grille have been replaced with horizontal slats that make it look more like the Genesis sedan.

The Equus is equipped with all the techno-gimmickry one expects in a big luxury sedan today, including adaptive cruise control and navigation. The 4,376-pound is suspended on electronically controlled air springs and power comes from a 385 horsepower version of the 4.6-liter Tau V8 already seeing duty in the Genesis. The only thing the Equus lacks compared to a Lexus or Benz is an oversized sticker price. Hyundai says the Equus will be priced in the mid $50,000 range when it goes on sale later this year. You can check out the full press release (including a by-the-numbers comparison of how the Equus stacks up against its main rivals) after the jump, or check out the high-res gallery below (we'll have live shots from Javitz shortly).

link:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/01/hyundai-equus-2011-new-york-auto-show-debut/