More rugged than rugged
Meet the Hyundai Crater Concept. It is a study model that is hung with accessories and elements to give it a nice rugged appearance. And that is not without reason.
The Hyundai Crater Concept is a study model that immediately makes it clear what it prefers to do: plow through the mud. The Crater Concept is hung with attributes and accessories that the show car should be able to use well during adventures off the asphalt. The result: a car that looks as if even the hottest lava flow is no match for it.
No study model without interesting visual matters. We see a relatively compact SUV-like with a roof rack and large wheels with a hexagonal filling. Off-road rubber in size 33 inches is folded around the wheels. To give the whole thing a decent place, Hyundai has given its adventurer impressive-looking and heavily knocked out wheel arches. The Hyundai has large, wide skid plates and even has what in the United States they call limb risers . These are cables that are stretched between the hood and the top of the roof and that mainly protect the windshield against things like low-hanging branches. Notable details: one of the built-in towing eyes leads a double life as a bottle opener and the side mirrors are removable and can moonlight as flashlights. Now that we’re talking about lighting: in the spotlights on the roof we see pixel creatures that seem to have escaped from Space Invaders.
Hyundai Crater Concept: comfort and ruggedness.
At least as exuberant is the interior that you can access through a traditionally opening front door but a rear-hinged rear door. There you will find, among other things, extremely comfortable-looking seats and a minimalist dashboard that perhaps most resembles an overgrown JBL speaker. Just as remarkable is the way in which the center tunnel is designed. Nice eye candy. More interesting details are the retro-looking square information clusters centrally at the top of the dashboard and the head-up display with apparently three projection windows.
The Dune Gold Matte painted Hyundai Crater Concept has driving modes such as Snow, Sand and Mud and, thanks to systems such as Trailer Brake Control and Downhill Brake Control, should actually be able to do something off the asphalt, although Hyundai does not share any data about the powertrain. That doesn’t seem to be important anyway.
Is Hyundai looking ahead to a completely new SUV with this Crater Concept? That could be. If we think away all the accessories, we see a model that we don’t know from Hyundai at all. It cannot be ruled out that Hyundai is hinting at what is to come. It itself says that the study model mainly serves to show what would be possible in the future with its XRT models. Rugged XRT versions exist of the Ioniq 5 and the Santa Cruz and Palisade, which are not available here. We don’t know them in the Netherlands, so we fear that most of Hyundai’s creativity that is being exhibited here will pass the Dutch nose.
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