After having perked the ears of budget-minded luxury sedan seekers with their 2009 Genesis, Hyundai is at it again with their sights on the performance coupe crowd.  Leaked well before its official unveiling at the New York Auto Show, RPM Planets is proud to bring you the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe.  The Genesis coupe is based on the same rear-wheel-drive platform as the Genesis Sedan, however, the 4.6 liter V8 option has been tossed wayside to be replaced by your choice of a turbocharged four-cylinder engine or a 3.8L V6. Hyundai is hinting that power output of the V6 trim will be in the 300+ horsepower arena.  Which is, by our calculations, enough to keep up with Ford's finest GT-adorned pony car.

In today's automotive world, huge horsepower numbers, insane torque figures, and quad turbochargers, it is almost funny to hear a horsepower figure like 270.  Let's be honest, most minivans and SUVs have more horsepower than that.  However, the beauty of power to weight ratio is that it doesn't take much horsepower to achieve amazing acceleration figures, our favorite case being the Aerial Atom.  Lotus seems to have mastered the game of affordable power-to-weight monsters, however, with its Elise/Exige lineup.  They've raised the bar with the new 270E, making it eco-friendly and able to run off of either methanol, ethanol, or even regular gasoline.

As you may remember from our November article detailing the 2008 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1's LS9 engine, the target output was 630 horsepower from a 6.2 liter aluminum small block.  With such big block-jealous power figures, Chevrolet incorporated a newly designed Eaton positive displacement supercharger.  Stay seated after the jump to check out GM's small block engine program's assistant chief, Ron Meegan, as he explains the ins and outs of the all new Eaton unit and what makes it so unique to the ZR1 platform.  Be sure to also watch Ron break down the differences between the LS9's Eaton and the Cadillac CTS-V equipped unit.

Usually car companies compete with each other to produce the fastest, best handling, and most outrageous performance cars.  However, when a company sets the bar, very rarely does it keep trying to raise that bar, when none of the competition has even come close to it.  The fact that Aerial produced a car with no body panels and a 300 hp supercharged Honda engine that propels the car to sixty mph in 2.9 seconds, should make it easy to understand why they continue to raise that bar.  They are completely and utterly insane.  There is no other explanation for the creation of an even faster, more brutal car that is the upcoming Atom 500; but we love it.

Take one part Swedish supercar and about 5 parts carbon fiber - what do you get?  Introducing the all new Koenigsegg Edition lineup.  Available in both the CCX and CCX-R models, the Edition features a sea of raw, unfinished and fully functional carbon fiber.  Under the composite body, expect the same spleen squashing performance of Koenigsegg's 5.0L twin supercharged CCX/CCX-R engine.  At a minimum of 888 horsepower, the carbon fiber rocket makes the trip from a standstill to 125 mph and back to 0 mph in 14 seconds.  If you can cover the extra 170,000 euro price difference, the CCX-R-based 1,018 horsepower propels through the same benchmarks in 13.7 seconds and tops out 250 mph, 5 mph more than its lesser-powered sibling.  Check out some larger pictures of the Koenigsegg Edition inside and be sure to read Koenigsegg's official press release as well.

To say the all new Audi R8 has been a hit would be one of the most drastic understatements of the year.  Its sleek lines have earned it a place as one of the sexiest vehicles of all time, and its use of cutting edge technology has made it a fan favorite.  Not to disappoint, Audi has prepared one of the coolest concepts to ever hit the floor of the Geneva Motor Show, the Audi R8 V12 TDI Le Mans edition.      

The young Turkish artist, Ugur Sahin is at it again with his interpretation of Chevrolet's Corvette Z06. Dubbed the Z03, Sahin hopes to actually build 100 fully functional pieces of art. Featuring an onslaught of carbon fiber body work and the seductive body lines borrowed from a C3 Corvette and Ferrari 599 GTB, expect the performance to be equally bold. The Z03 will weigh in at 100 pounds less than the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and will be offered with 3 engine packages, ranging from 500 to 750 horsepower.

Motor, a leading performance-enthusiast magazine in Australia is predicting an LS9 powered Holden Special Vehicles GTS-R to make a jaw-dropping appearance at this month’s Melbourne Motor Show.  The GTS-R will be based on HSV’s GTS which is a Holden-based Commodore SS sedan with all the performance bells and whistles.  Holden, operating under the blanket of Bob Lutz and his GM crew, were recently responsible for brining the rebadged Commodore SS stateside as the Pontiac G8.  Could this LS9 powered version of HSV’s Commodore also find its way stateside as a Pontiac super-performance sedan?  We sure hope so.   Stay tuned to RPM Planets for the latest news and information.