LOS ANGELES — Hyundai offered a peek of a concept car that will hint at its future electric vehicle design when the wraps come off Sept. 10 at the Frankfurt auto show.
The angular concept, shown in a teaser image, is inspired by looking back at the company's design in the 1970s, Hyundai said in a statement last week. The concept vehicle is called the 45, with the number in angular brackets --『45』.
"The new concept accentuates the forward-driven design direction while exploring the evolution of Hyundai's 'sensuous sportiness' design language," the company said. "The fully-electric concept car will act as a symbolic milestone for Hyundai's future EV design."
Hyundai is rumored to be working on a new dedicated EV platform that can accommodate larger vehicles than the current platform shared by the Ioniq compact and Kona subcompact, both of which offer hybrid and gasoline-only powertrains in addition to full EV options.
The new platform would likely be shared with corporate partners Genesis and Kia. Kia offers the Niro subcompact on the current small-vehicle platform in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and EV configurations.