Hyundai Legato Concept: Enlisting ARK Performance to Add Some Hustle to the Genesis Coupe [2013 SEMA Show]

It’s time to start booking your flights to Vegas, because it’s SEMA season and, as Hyundai and ARK Performance are known to do, the covers are coming off the monstrosities early. The pair have partnered again, this time taking a Genesis coupe out back and reworking it innards, outtards, and, most important, under the hood. The result is called the Legato concept.

An ARK intake system and headers open up both ends of the breathing cycle, while lightweight pulleys cut parasitic losses. The stock Hyundai 3.8-liter Lambda V-6 has been stroked using a Brian Crower 4.0 Stroker Kit, and the crankshaft has been updated using a 4340 crankshaft from the same brand, and beefed-up connecting rods topped with JE pistons. When it’s all said and done, the stock motor’s 348 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque rise to 400 horses and 425 lb-ft. Legato is a musical term that, translated from Italian, means “to be performed smoothly and connectedly,” which is presumably the job of the dual-mass flywheel and carbon clutch kit.

Added powered needs added grip, so ARK tucks a coil-over suspension under the coupe, which rides on Rays Engineering  G25 wheels and Nitto NT05 tires. The binders are upgraded with ARK carbon brake pads.

As we’ve only seen drawings of the Legato concept we’ll need to take Hyundai’s word that the final car retains the “integrity of the original design,” while expanding it to the level of a concept car. This would mean reworking the front and rear bumpers, connecting the Legato’s front with the rear via low side skirts, reshaping the deck lid, and generally giving the coupe a wider, more muscular look.

• Instrumented Test: 2013 Hyundai Genesis 2.0T / 3.8 R-Spec Coupe
• Instrumented Test: 2012 Hyundai Genesis R-Spec 5.0 Sedan
• Instrumented Test: 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

While we think using the term “concept” may be a touch disingenuous considering the external changes we can see, we must remember that the season of SEMA is upon us. No Frankenstein experiment is too out there, no treatment to the bodywork is too gaudy.

Source: CarAndDriver