Tags: Hyundai Hyundai i30 Hyundai HED-4 Hyundai Crossover-SUV Concept autoshow Geneva Motor Show 2007 concept cars new models
Hyundai will reveal perhaps its most significant car to date – the all-new Hyundai i30 – at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday 6 March 2007.
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Designed specifically for the European C-segment, the i30 will come with a choice of three gasoline and three diesel engines, combined with manual or automatic transmission, meaning it can meet virtually every driving, or powertrain preference. With one of the longest wheelbases in its class, the i30 can also match above average occupant space with generous, easy access luggage capacity.
The i30’s styling is a continuation of the “wave-like and sculpted” design of the Arnejs concept car, shown at last year’s Paris Motor Show. Flowing curves, emphasised by strong character lines, highlight the purposeful stance and long wheelbase of the car.
Thomas Bürkle, Hyundai European Chief Designer, said: “The i30 offers dynamic and sporty styling, whilst retaining the chic and elegant touch of the Arnejs concept car.”
The i30 will go on sale across Europe in summer 2007. Initially available as a 5-door hatchback and later as an estate car, the i30 opens a new chapter for Hyundai in Europe, as it is the Korean manufacturer’s first dedicated European C-segment vehicle.
New name signifies new thinking
The launch of i30 marks the start of a new global naming strategy for Hyundai models going forward. While in the past, names have been chosen to express the values inherent in, or associated with, individual Hyundai models, Hyundai is now taking a more holistic approach to its nomenclature. The new alpha numeric names will display a clearer technology-orientation and be closely linked to Hyundai’s brand promise of ‘Quality, Self-assurance, and Inspiring’.
Full details of the new naming strategy will be revealed along with the car at Hyundai’s press conference at 5pm on 6 March in hall 6.
Crossover Concept
Hyundai will also present a concept Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV), code-named HED 4. As a joint project with GE Plastics, the HED 4 endowed designers with greater expressive freedom to create complex three-dimensional shapes that could not have been achieved with conventional production methods and materials such as metal and glass.
Current composite technology is usually thought too expensive and too difficult to fabricate to be of use anywhere but the aerospace and motor racing industries. Hyundai’s CUV is physical proof that this need not be so.
The wrap-around GE Lexan™ windscreen and extensive use of GE polycarbonate glazing materials provides a weight saving of up to 50 percent in relation to glass, while simultaneously allowing more adventurous shapes than flat glass. The glazing features a unique technology from Exatec™ which deposits a thin protective layer of glass on the Lexan™ to add protection from scratching and the effects of weathering.
The HED 4 also introduces new curved and moving side glazing in Lexan. As well as allowing such advanced applications, the impact resistance and other properties of this material also helps increase both occupant and pedestrian safety. Improving the latter is of utmost importance to Hyundai, due to its high percentage of European SUV sales.
HED 4’s Elastic Front™ safety system, which encompasses the whole front end of the vehicle, is arguably the world's first global pedestrian protection solution on a CUV. Three energy-absorbing structures are fully integrated underneath the futuristic styling of the HED 4 and this system takes advantage of several advanced materials that offer inherent energy absorbing properties. The HED 4’s body panels have been designed to work in concert with energy-absorbing systems on the underside of these panels to manage and dissipate the force of a pedestrian/CUV collision. The Elastic Front™ has been engineered to meet EEVC WG17 Phase2, Euro NCAP, and JNCA pedestrian impact requirements and is currently undergoing testing for final validation.
