It has always been a feature of the Japanese manufacturers to show concept cars that are just so wacky and left-field you might wonder just what mind-enhancing substances the designers were on. Well, now it's the turn of the Koreans. Hyundai showed it can do wacky too with the HCD10 Hyundai Hellion concept recently shown at the
2006 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Hyundai's chief designer, Joel Piaskowski, says "the HCD10 Hyundai Hellion was designed to appeal to a diverse individualist customer" - I think that means the customer is either seven years old, or completely barking! The main unique attribute the Hellion shows is in the way it is built. Hyundai says it is based on a rigid backpack, where three ultra-lightweight structural ribs connect to a surfboard-shaped spine to create a ribcage, which protects the passengers and also adds visual rigidity. The sheet metal skin is then stretched over the ribcage. So it's made for surfer-dudes then?
The Hellion has intentionally been designed to look and feel tough - if it were a Hollywood star it would always be cast as the bad guy. The styling is a mixture, part off-roader, part rally car, part sports car. The short overhangs, skid plates and big wheelarches suggest off-roader, but then the wide track, bonnet scoop and 20-inch wheels (Teflon coated no less) give a stance more akin to a WRC car.
The roof is made of a removable fabric item that allows the rib cage structure to be shown off; the cage is more evident inside the Hellion with the ribs 'growing' from the side panels and a full length roof console running the length of the spine. The camouflage pattern of the roof has also been used to trim the individual race-style seats for the four occupants. Packs on the rear of each of the seats can be removed and used as backpacks by each of the passengers, with other storage under the seats and in the roof console.
Instead of cup-holders, each seat features a built in hydration system allowing the occupants to drink directly from a removable, refillable reservoir inside each seat - rally driver style. Quite whether McDonalds can refill this is not known...
Last but not least, the drivetrain. So bold is the styling that the drivetrain is almost an afterthought. A 3-litre V6 common-rail diesel engine with 236bhp is mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive to back up the rugged looks. We're not expecting a production version any time soon.
Trevor Nicosia - 12 Dec 2006