It’s easy to make a great $300,000 car. It’s much harder to make a great $30,000 car. Hyundai just unveiled the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe and it’s another reminder of how quickly the Korean automaker has radically transformed from a builder of mediocre cheap cars to a designer of great affordable ones. It’s Hyundai’s world, […]
I typed something up but it looks like it didn’t post. I think we’re saying two different things.
I’m talking specifically about the design language that you don’t like. The EV9 and the new Sante Fe, the Santa Cruz, the hatch IONIQ5 and even the divisive IONIQ6. I love those designs. They feel unique and bold. I would put them among some of my favorite designs of major, non-exotic manufacturers. Clearly just personal opinion but I feel like they’ve put out hit after hit on design, compared to whatever the hell BMW is doing as an example.
I can’t really say anything about their engine design or internal components. I’m ignorant there. I’m saying I find myself intrigued by Hyundai in spite of their terrible track record because of the design language.
Honestly the N Vision 74 is one of my favorite looking cars of the last decade. Bring on the 80s retrofuturism please!
Sorry, I don’t personally see aesthetic choices as “innovation” in cars. What makes the car do what a car should is where innovation matters to me. Looks are just the packaging, and theirs is horrible. Personally, I find Kia/Hyundai style absolutely offensively hideous.
Edit: the more I think about it, based on observation, I don’t think their body styling is even terribly innovative or better than the more established brands. I would bet that if you put a bunch of cars into a wind tunnel, Hyundai Kia wouldn’t be near the top. They still haven’t figured a lot of things out with airflow and how to quiet it down.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure they stole their current design trend straight frim 1985. I swear I’ve seen all their new cars in back to the future. With an appearance from the Audi in I, Robot with the wanna be iris wheel covers for fender trim on that one Kia suv.
These are all weak takes imo.
The designer of much of Hyundai’s current lineup is Luc Donckerwolke, who is famous for his Lamborghini (Diablo, Gallardo and Murcielago) and Audi designs. You may not like them but they’re not “design by committee” derivatives.
Almost no manufactures are heavily developing their ICE engines anymore, nor do all even produce their own engines (Hyundai/Kia do).
Much of the “airflow” “issues” you’re talking about are simply price point. The two most impactful areas for sound insulation on cars are undercarriage and wheel wells and door/window frames and seals. For the former, nothing about it is high-tech. Even luxury makes user sound-absorbing materials including plastic deflectors, fabrics, and lightweight low-density filler materials behind panels such as polystyrene. How much sound proofing you get is a reflection of Hyundai’s entry level lineup. You’re not going to get Mercedes-level sound insulation at half the price just because the design looks high-end. It’s not until you’re near the top of luxury car lineups or Rolls/Bentley territory that this area becomes innovative.
P.S. Hyundai/Kia also hold patents for 2-stroke supercharged engine designs as well as variable compression designs.