Design is the element that best expresses the tension towards evolution which represented the key of Hyundai’s success. The brand has in fact affirmed itself among the leading automotive companies in only 50 years, especially in sustainable mobility with a range of solutions spacing from hybrid to hydrogen, but also full electric and plug-in hybrid.
Design is therefore a key element of Hyundai’s DNA: a concrete development answer to people’s needs, able to evolve continuously in order to offer the best mobility solutions, with a vision towards the future.
Designers face a big challenge: they need to give life to people’s tastes through new and original solutions – creating, reinventing and often learning from the past. Emotion, beauty, practicality, comfort, performance, safety and costs are all elements that design can not disregard when developing a new car, demanding for solutions that are always more sophisticated and tough.
With this spirit, in the past years Hyundai has developed several concept cars, pushing the boundaries of design and exploring new ideas and looks. Unlike other mar manufacturers, that often use concept cars to study consumers’ reactions to disruptive characteristics without introducing them into production, Hyundai has lately create them in order to anticipate the design of future production models. Clear examples of this are the concept cars i-oniq, FE Concept and Intrado, which respectively introduced Hyundai models IONIQ, NEXO and KONA, now driving on the streets across the globe.
Hyundai’s most recent concept cars are inspired by the brand’s future “Sensuous Sportiness” design language, where ‘Sensuous’ stands for enhanced emotional values that customers can experience through design, and ‘Sportiness’ is determined to implement those values through innovative mobility solutions.
Embodiment of this design language is the electric concept car “Prophecy”, with a neo-classic shape that gives a nod to the luxury cars of the 1920s and 30s as well as unique features such as pixelated lighting and aerodynamic wheels make it seem like something from the future. The shape of a perfectly weathered stone inspires the exterior traits of the model, while its name, “Prophecy”, is a clear hint to this car’s objective: anticipate a brilliant future both for Hyundai design and for innovative sustainable mobility solutions.
Sensuous Sportiness also guided the design process of both the innovative Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept andthe Hyundai’s “45” EV Concept. These concepts have been embodied by two of the latest Hyundai models: TUCSON and IONIQ 5. .
The all-new Tucson is the fourth generation of Hyundai’s successful best-selling model. The model’s advanced exterior styling expresses what Hyundai designers call ‘Parametric Dynamics’ that utilizes lines, faces, angles and shapes to create kinetic jewel-like surface details through digital data to offer unprecedented, bold design aesthetics.
The all-new IONIQ 5 also incorporates an evolution of the brand’s ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ design language. The model’s progressive design represents a departure from past norms, exploring a new design freedom offered by a dedicated BEV platform. By evoking the daring attitude of Hyundai Pony - born from the pencil of a young Giorgetto Giugiaro in the 70s - IONIQ 5 highlights Hyundai’s 45-year journey to become a part of customer’s lifestyles, creating a common thread from past to present and future. This is the redefinition of timeless design, a theme that will expand as the IONIQ lineup grows.
Today, Hyundai is already the car manufacturer with the widest lineup of electrified powertrains on the market, with all the possible technological solutions for a sustainable mobility: mild-hybrid with the all-new i20, i30, BAYON, KONA and TUCSON 48V; full-hybrid with the all-new TUCSON, SANTA FE, KONA and IONIQ ; plug-in hybrid with IONIQ PHEV, to which also TUCSON and SANTA FE will be added in the coming months; full electric with the EV models of KONA and IONIQ, and soon with the innovative IONIQ 5, the first model built on Hyundai's new dedicated architecture for battery electric vehicles called Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP); until to arrive at the fuel cell hydrogen technology with the SUV NEXO.
Always striving towards progress, almost 90% of Hyundai’s lineup in Italy will be electrified by the end of 2020, while Hyundai Group will be investing 47 billion euros in future mobility solutions by 2025 with the arrival of 44 electrified models in the same timeframe.
However, Hyundai concepts are not only cars. At CES 2020 the brand revealed its innovative vision for urban mobility to help vitalize human-centered future cities.
To realize the vision, Hyundai Motor showcased its first concept of Personal Air Vehicle (PAV), which is part of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM). UAM combines Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) and urban air mobility services to make airspace available for transportation. To this scenario is added the Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV): a ground-based eco-friendly mobility solution that provides customized spaces and services for passengers in transit. The two prototypes of intelligent mobility developed by Hyundai will be connected by the HUB, where both PAV and PBV will arrive and depart. The HUB will also act as innovative new community space in which people will be able to interact.
Based on these mobility solutions, Hyundai aims to free future cities and people from constraints of time and space and allow them to create more value in their lives. UAM, PBV, and Hub will revitalize cities by removing urban boundaries, giving people time to pursue their goals, and creating a diverse community. Hyundai’s goal is to help build dynamic human-centered future cities, continuing the brand’s legacy and vision of “Progress for Humanity”.
