Click above for high-res gallery of the Hyundai i800

While Hyundai offers a front wheel drive minivan in the U.S. market called the Entourage, it's only available with the Korean manufacturer's 3.8L gas V-6. It gets an EPA overall rating of 18mpg, which is competitive in its segment here in North America but no great shakes overall. Overseas, Hyundai has just released a new eight-seat rear wheel drive full-sized van called the i800. The i800 gets motivation from a 2.5L four cylinder diesel engine with common rail injection. The diesel generates 170hp and 289lb-ft of torque which won't get any enthusiasts excited in this application (what enthusiast would get excited about a van like this, anyway?) but should be more than adequate for the purpose. This could make a great car pool vehicle especially if you translate the 28mpg it achieves into a per person basis with eight passengers aboard. Hyundai is known to be developing a diesel V-6 for the US market but so far there is no indication that the four cylinder will come here. Details after the jump.

You can't expect to sell decent numbers of a sedan in Europe without a diesel engine. That's a law that most automarkes have learnt (Cadillac too). The biggest sedan Hyundai offers in Europe, the Grandeur (also known as Azera to Americans),has a diesel option.

The Grandeur's powertrain is a 2.2 liter CRDi engine (that's what Hyundai calls the brand's implementation of common-rail injection) which is good for 155 HP mated to an automatic 5-speed gearbox. Acceleration won't make you feel like you're on the Space Shuttle, taking 11.8 seconds from 0 to 60mph. Torque is impressive, at 343 Nm (253 lb-ft). Fuel consumption is about 33 mpg in the European combined cycle and CO2 emissions 208 g/km. This powertrain is also installed in the Santa Fe.

Pricing is quite high but the model comes with all equipment (including Navigation system) for about 41,000 EUR in Germany.

Related:

• The Korean Ministry of the Environment orders 3,390 hybrids from Kia and Hyundai
• Hey look, another car we can't have here - The All New Hyundai i30
• Hyundai might bring their first US diesel to the Veracruz

[Source: Hyundai via Auto-week]

Hyundai may soon begin offering oil-burners in the US market instead of hybrids. According to Hyundai COO Steve Wilhite, getting diesels into US Hyundai models are his highest personal priority. Wilhite would like to see diesels available in all of Hyundai's US models and considers them a more elegant solution than hybrids which add a great deal of complexity to a vehicle.

Honda has already announced plans to offer new clean diesels in the US in 2009. Wilhite says diesel engines would cost about $1,000 more than gas engines compared to $2,000-3,000 more for a hybrid system. He feels that the cost of a diesel can much more easily pay for itself in fuel savings than a hybrid.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]