Hyundai’s commitment to Europe has resulted in this breathtaking new concept designed by masters’ students at IED or Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin, Italy.
Hyundai Motor Company, the fastest growing car brand in the world, had commissioned students from the famous Italian design institute the Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin to design a radical dream car that they would like to buy and drive. The result of this initiative is quite fruitful as the students came up with this beautiful, awe-inspiring concept called the PassoCorto, Italian for short wheelbase. The car was recently displayed on IED’s stand at the Geneva Motor Show where it attracted a lot of interest.
Hyundai’s brief about the car to the 16 selected students was very simple, create a car of your dreams, a car that would appeal to youngsters. After painstaking designing process, the students came up with the PassoCorto, which is powered by a 1.6litre, inline four, bi-turbo engine that is rear-mid mounted, just like a sportscar. The body is lightweight and weighs just 840 kilo, thanks to an all carbon-fibre construction.
The designing process was kept quite traditional as the students used clay modelling and other such techniques to render the car before moving to CGI in the final stages. Many elements like the paint and strong creases on the car are inspired by the Italian sports cars of the 1970’s, cars that made Italy a supercar design haven. The interiors however, are more contemporary and boasts of all the latest gadgetry. The camera mounted at the back is not just used as a rear-view mirror but also as a hi-def camera to record HD videos that can be shared by the youngsters with friends and family over the internet.
On this monumental achievement, Thomas Bürkle, Chief Designer, Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre, said, “This exciting sports car has exceeded the high expectations we had at the start of this project, and the cooperation between our design centre and IED has been inspiring and fruitful. The PassoCorto project underlines Hyundai’s commitment to Europe – a commitment that enables us to design, develop and produce cars in Europe that suit the demanding requirement of the region’s customers.”
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