Hyundai says it isn’t “wasting” a daring new design on a low-volume hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, with the new Nexo instead debuting a new design language for the brand that’ll inform future models.
“It’s not wasted at all… it’s part of our design criteria in future. You’ll see some of that executed further,” said senior vice president and head of Hyundai Design Center, Simon Loasby, to Australian media at the Seoul motor show.
“You will see this design language – Art of Steel – through late this year, next year, you’ll see more examples of that.”
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When asked whether that includes the next-generation Tucson, expected to debut in 2026, Mr Loasby wouldn’t confirm.
“I’m not going to tell you… Let’s have this conversation in 18 months,” he said.
The second-generation Nexo, which appears almost identical to the Initium concept that previewed it, has a distinctive appearance that mixes gentle curves with sharp angles.
It features an evolution of the brand’s parametric pixel lighting elements, while introducing an unusual C/D-pillar treatment that has invited comparisons – arguably unfairly – with the Pontiac Aztek.
Inside, it more closely resembles recent Hyundai products, though there are some quirky design details too here including unusual soft dash padding on the passenger side.
Some of the Nexo’s design elements could remain exclusive to it, with Mr Loasby noting, “It actually helps that customer group that they’ve got something special, it is unique, it is special… It doesn’t have to look like everything else.”
While some brands have a very uniform corporate look, Hyundai has long offered quite a deal of variety – witness its current lineup, where vehicles like the blocky Santa Fe, swoopy Ioniq 6, quirky Inster, and retro-inspired Ioniq 5 co-exist.
That will continue with this new design language.
Santa Fe 
Ioniq 6 
Grandeur 
Ioniq 5
“The base can be Art of Steel, it can be pixels, that connects, but the typology can be very different, deliberately. So you will see some spices which are the same for the rest of the dishes.” he said.
That’s in contrast with corporate cousin Kia, which has been releasing new vehicles – and updating existing ones – with a rather similar corporate “face”.
“With us, we have deliberately different identities,” explained Mr Loasby.
“It gives us a different challenge. Most companies don’t do it like this, most companies have one look and it goes across the whole portfolio.
“And for us, we have such a big portfolio that we want to make sure both regionally and for customer groups we can offer something different and unique.”
Hyundai Le Fil Rouge concept
Hyundai has moved to a similar front-end design – featuring a full-width light bar – for some of its vehicles, including the latest Kona and Grandeur as well as the Staria and facelifted Sonata. However, it has stopped short of trying to apply this face to all its vehicles.
The brand has a different design language for its dedicated electric vehicles (EVs) called Parametric Pixel, which includes pixel-like lighting elements… though these have also found their way onto other vehicles like the combustion-powered Staria.
Hyundai calls its design language for most of its range Sensuous Sportiness, and debuted this in 2018 with the Le Fil Rouge concept. Many of the design elements seen on this concept made their way to production vehicles including the i30 Sedan, Sonata and Tucson.
That included a mixture of concave and convex lines, as well as the intricate Cascading Grille with its three-dimensional “parametric jewels”.
