LOS ANGELES: With quirky features like a joystick in the cockpit, a swivelling driver's chair and a chaise longue that sweeps around the rear, Hyundai's plans for the next electric model in its Ioniq range are far-fetched to say the least.
Unveiled at the LA Auto Show, the new show car Seven is the company's attempt to lay the foundations for a new kind of electric SUV that's all about luxury on the inside.
A big brother to the Ioniq 5, the Seven has given a first glimpse of Hyundai's high-life and high-tech ambitions and is set to be launched in two to three years as the Ioniq 7.
The manufacturer puts range at around 600km, although Hyundai is hopeful that advances in battery technology may even enable an operating range of over 1,000km by the time it is launched.
Just like the Ioniq 5, the 5.30-metre-long off-roader is built on its own platform with the battery in the floor of the car and therefore offers a lot of interior space at a wheelbase of 3.20 metres.
As is usual with concept cars like this one, the designers have used this space in a somewhat more liberal and unconventional way.
In anticipation of self-driving cars, the driver's seat swivels around, there's a kind of ottoman for the front passenger and instead of rear seats there is a wrap-around chaise longue.
All in all, it feels like a lounge on wheels, and is not unlike other visions of how the interior of cars will change once the driver no longer needs to focus on steering.
Instead of a glass roof, there's a digital screen covering the headliner area, and Hyundai wants to show you dreamy images of forests instead of the real-world concrete jungle rising above you.
And because developers imagine the Seven will drive largely or even fully autonomously, the controls are also unconventional.
Instead of a conventional cockpit with steering wheel and pedals, there's only a kind of joystick on the driver's seat. Instead of classic instruments, just a long display under the windscreen.
The masterminds in South Korea have taken up another issue in this car: hygiene. Because the car was developed in the middle of the pandemic, the car has infrared interior cleaning and a particularly powerful air filter.
There's even a special drawer into which you can put your shoes, smartphone or face mask for disinfecting. How much any of this becomes reality in the not-too-distant future is anyone's guess.
