The Hyundai Tiburon, also known as the Coupé or Tuscani between 1996 and 2009, was always the scrappy underdog of the sports car world. The second-generation model even boasted a Pininfarina design, which gave it enough curb appeal to distract people from the fact that it was mechanically related to the humble Elantra and Tucson. While it offered everything from tiny four-cylinder engines to a modest V6, it was always a small, front-wheel-drive affair, significantly tinier than a fifth-generation Ford Mustang.
Fast forward to the digital age, and the “shark” (the literal translation of Tiburon) has undergone a terrifying evolutionary leap into a full-blown muscle car. Thanks to the digital wizardry of pixel master jlord8, the defunct Korean coupé has been resurrected as a rebadged Ford Mustang S650. It is a glorious, albeit impossible, CGI mashup that retains the aggressive pony car silhouette while slapping on a distinctly Hyundai face.
This hypothetical Hyundai Tiburon N features a wide, modern light bar, low-mounted primary headlights, and a massive front bumper intake adorned with the Korean logo. Because it’s an imagined product of the N performance division, it sports a signature blue paint job with spicy red accents on the front splitter and side skirts. It even boasts N-branded brake calipers, signaling that this isn’t your aunt’s 138-horsepower 1990s hatchback.
It is clearly a digital tribute to American legends like the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Charger, though the odds of Ford and Hyundai collaborating on a V8 project are roughly zero.
The rendering raises a provocative question for the automotive community. In an era where the Charger is shifting its V8 strategy, would you actually buy a Korean muscle car if it outperformed the American icons? It might never happen in the real world, but as a digital exercise in “what if”, a V8-powered Hyundai N monster is exactly the kind of chaos the car world needs.
