We know what you're thinking, has Hyundai's design department just dropped the ball spectacularly for the first time in years? To put it kindly the new Ioniq 6 is, er, challenging, but you may need to do a bit of internet cross-referencing to fully assimilate what you're looking at here, because this is a car that doesn't shy away from its influences.
And what influences they are. Hyundai's HG Wells-style time machine stopped off in the mid-Seventies for the rapturously received Ioniq 5, but this time we whirl further back to the Twenties and Thirties, a spectacularly creative time for automotive and transport design.
Back then, streamlining was all the rage, and the results were often fascinatingly barmy. Take the Stout Scarab, for example, designed by John Tjaarda (whose son Tom would later make a name for himself), an Art Deco and aviation-inspired masterpiece that also featured a unitary chassis and ingenious packaging. Or the one-off Phantom Corsair, commissioned by Rust Heinz (yes, the beans and ketchup Heinz) in 1938. Perhaps more pertinent is the Tatra 87, whose finned fastback was designed by Paul Jaray, who helped design those epic Zeppelin airships. Saab, too, had aviation roots, and its first production car, the 92, also gets a namecheck from Hyundai's vice president of styling, SangYup Lee. See also the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, which actually did fly.
"The Thirties showcased the perfect combination of design and engineering," he explains. "There was a big debate internally about whether we should call the new car Streamliner. The best design doesn't create customers, it creates fans." Punchy words, to go with Hyundai's generally punchy attitude.
South Korean culture is currently cool, with unassailable emissaries in the form of Netflix's biggest ever original series Squid Game and director Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-snaffling film Parasite (we'll skip over annoying boyband BTS).
この記事は Top Gear の August 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Top Gear の August 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself
