Hyundai's new WRC car - the WRC i20

For those of us with long enough memories Hyundai was last seen on the world rally stages with the Accent WRC.  Alistair McRae drove it to some memorable, but never winning, results in 2001 and rally legend Juha Kankkunen steered it in 2002 to some half decent results - the best of which was a 5th place at Rally New Zealand.

Hyundai pulled out of the WRC in 2003 due to budget constraints.

But now they are back.  Last night Hyundai unveiled the WRC i20, their new WRC challenger - and it looks the business.

But that's half the point of rally cars.  Take one humdrum but solid family hatch add some nice wheels, spoilers and a body kit, lower it and cover it with stickers - and it instantly looks a million dollars.  We've included a photo of the standard i20 so you can see the difference.

The engine is a turbocharged 1.6 and the i20 has four wheel drive.  Hyundai are vague on details other than they have set up an in-house WRC team in Europe and intend entering WRC soon.