It may be a Korean automotive giant but over the last several years, the SEMA show and the Las Vegas Convention Center have become a home from home for Hyundai, with the company bringing more and more custom-built rides every year.
In fact, Hyundai has got the SEMA bug so bad that it's expected to bring upwards of seven cars to this year's show, starting with the Rockstar Energy Moab Extreme Concept (pic).
Based on the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport long dash — a sensible family SUV, it has been completely re-imagined as an off-road racer. "The concept was designed to withstand the extraordinary demands of Moab off-road terrain," said Rockstar Marketing's Nic Ashby.
The standard wheels, tyres, brakes and suspension have all been ditched. It now sits on 17-inch bead-lock wheels wrapped in 35-inch Baja off-road tyres. The suspension is a King coilover system, and the underside is fitted with skid plates for protection. There are custom front and rear bumpers, an integrated winch, a portable airtank for refilling tyres on the go and a Cascadia tent for camping out on the off-road trail.
While the engine has also been upgraded with a new exhaust system, air intake and intercooler, the block itself remains untouched.
"Leveraging the outstanding Santa Fe Sport platform and powertrain, we definitely pushed its capabilities to new limits to conquer the pinnacle of challenges at Moab," said Ashby.
This year's SEMA show runs from Oct 31 to Nov 4.
