It’s interesting to notice there are some patterns ruling the music industry which could also be applied to the car world. Haven’t you noticed that every year has lots of unknown performers popping with a few songs which don’t take long to become annoying due to the endless repetition, but frequently return to ostracism after some months? Having your own fifteen minutes may be getting harder, but even tougher is to maintain that fame. That’s exactly what Hyundai is now trying to do with its cars, and this article will show why.
Fluidic sculpture is the name for which Hyundai must thank to. This design language first hit the streets with Sonata’s current generation, released in 2009, but before giving the automaker a big series of successful cars, it brought a great opportunity of directing the spotlights to it like it was never done so far. In other words, Hyundai suddenly received all the media attention, but also the need of showing something with enough potential to convert that into customers. After all, this brand was already well-stabilished. It lacked some “extra” item, something that made it stand out in the crowd. So the Koreans made sure to not only show pretty vehicles, but entirely good ones. In other words, new platforms, bigger construction quality and more investments at technology both for luxury and performance. So if they’ve started to sell better products, it wouldn’t be hard to expect the success it has actually been seen in the last years. But as the music stars mentioned at this article’s beginning, Hyundai would soon lose the spotlights to another automaker if it just kept using the same formula. Therefore, in order to preserve the good reputation it now presents an evolution of those original design concepts, with most of the same elements now associated to a much more elegant interpretation.
This new phase started from the top of the showroom, with expensive vehicles such as Equus, Azera and now Santa Fe. The crossover uses slightly more straight lines and achieved an excellent proportion between the windows and the black and chrome parts at the body, managing to resemble most of the current Hyundai cars without looking like some copy. The interior received a great upgrade in everything, with a very attractive design in several coating options, not to mention cutting-edge items such as the panoramic sunroof and the big touchscreen for the infotainment system. This generation differs from the previous because it’ll also have a seven-seat option, expected to use longer wheelbase and some exclusive design items – Hyundai’s idea is to replace Veracruz with it, competing at this one’s market with the bigger charisma of Santa Fe. What the pictures don’t show are the expected engine options: with diesel it’ll use a 2.0L and a 2.2L, respectively with 150 and 200 hp, while the gasoline options are a 190-hp 2.4L and the turbocharged 2.0L with 260 hp. It’ll have two-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive traction options and manual or automatic transmissions, but always with six speeds. The safety pack has obviously increased, too, featuring reprojected braking, suspension and steering and several electronic systems to provide help.
