This rendering provided by Hyundai Motor on March 6, 2018, shows its Le Fil Rouge concept car, which will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this month. (Image: Hyundai Motor)
SEOUL, March 6 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top carmaker, Hyundai Motor Co., has chosen this year’s first major auto show to display its latest concept, allowing the public to get a glimpse of its new design direction going forward, the company said Tuesday.
Hyundai Motor took the wraps off its Le Fil Rouge concept car, developed under the project name of HDC-1, at the 88th Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland, which runs from March 8-18, the company said in a statement.
The “experimental and sporty” concept car is the first model to reflect Hyundai Motor’s new design direction dubbed “Sensuous Sportiness,” the company said, adding that this will be applied to most of its upcoming sedans and sport utility vehicles.
The Le Fil Rouge highlights a common thread of combining the carmaker’s past, present and future vehicle designs under one theme. The Sensuous Sportiness design direction is based on a combination of balance, structure, styling and technology, the carmaker said.
On top of the concept car, Hyundai’s all-new Kona Electric will make its debut in Geneva. The electric subcompact SUV can travel up to 482 kilometers on a single charge and takes 54 minutes to charge 80 percent of its 64 kWh battery, the statement said.
“We combine in one car the two hottest trends: electrification and SUVs.”
Hyundai said the new Kona Electric is the world’s first fully-electric compact crossover.
“By 2021, no less than 60 percent of the Hyundai line-up in Europe will be offered as eco-cars,” Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, vice president in charge of marketing and product at Hyundai Motor Europe, said in the statement. He added that in two years, roughly half of Hyundai Motor’s lineup in Europe will be SUVs.
This photo provided by Hyundai Motor Co. on March 6, 2018, shows the all-new Kona Electric, which will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this month. (Image: Hyundai Motor)
To take advantage of growing demand for SUVs in Europe, Hyundai plans to launch the Kona Electric SUV and the fully-revamped Santa Fe SUV in Europe in June and July, respectively, the company said.
In 2017, Hyundai sold 767,000 vehicles in Europe, up 9.3 percent from 702,000 units a year earlier. But globally, it posted a 6.4 percent on-year decline in sales at 4.51 million units last year.
(Yonhap)
