Hyundai's New Fuel Cell SUV Concept Teases a Pontiac Aztek-Like Shape
Hyundai has brought a wide variety of radical design concepts to production over the past five years, most notably the jelly-bean-shaped Ioniq 6 and the angular-retro-futuristic Ioniq 5. The brand's latest vehicle, however, takes on what could be Hyundai's greatest design challenge yet: resurrecting iconic elements of the Pontiac Aztek.
This freshly unveiled SUV is the Hyundai Initium, a concept meant to preview the brand's next generation of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicle. Like General Motors's ill-fated adventure crossover, the Initium features a roofline defined by a diagonal body color pillar ahead of its final pillar, and rear glass both above and below a sharp angle above the tailgate. Fortunately, the connections end there; the rest of the design resembles angular Hyundais like the Ioniq 5, the latest Santa Fe, and the N Vision 74.
Hyundai calls the Initium's design language "Art of Steel." While it may closely resemble other, more familiar Hyundais, the brand says that it actually is a new language debuting on this concept. The most notable "Art of Steel" element on the car is a set of four-corner headlight and taillight shapes, which create a plus sign in the negative space of both light signatures — a reference to the logo of Hyundai's HTwo-branded hydrogen initiative. The feature mirrors the current Santa Fe's lights, which trace an "H." (That, presumably, stands for Hyundai.)
Details on a potential production Initium are light, but Hyundai says that it is targeting a range of over 400 miles between refills. The brand also says that the car's electric motors produce just over 200 horsepower, enough for what it describes as "smooth overtaking." For reference, the current Hyundai Nexo FCEV has an estimated range of 380 miles and produces 161 hp.
Given how close the Initium's specs are to a product Hyundai sells in some markets today, this concept looks like it may just be one set of non-camera side-view mirrors away from a limited run of production. Hyundai already joined Honda and Toyota in producing dedicated designs for their limited-run hydrogen cars when it debuted the Nexo in 2018, paving the way for a similar run of production Initium models in the near future. Maybe they can woo Bryan Cranston away from Ford to do the ads for it.
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