Hot on the heels of reports that Hyundai could launch a ladder-frame SUV, a designer has imagined what such a vehicle could look like. While Hyundai also builds a large SUV in the form of the Palisade, it uses a unibody construction and doesn’t have the off-road credentials like ladder-frame rivals including the Chevrolet Tahoe and Toyota Land Cruiser. That’s where this Hyundai SUV would come in.
Dubbed the Terracan and created by
designer Enoch Gabriel Gonzales, the SUV is based on the ladder-frame Hyundai
Tarlac pickup the designer created just a few months ago. As no prototypes for
a potential Hyundai ladder-frame SUV are running around, it’s impossible to
know what it will look like. Nevertheless, Gonzales’ creation does a nice job
of bringing together some familiar Hyundai design elements with a more rugged
and aggressive design.
At the front, the Terracan has slim
headlights and daytime running lights as well as a split grille and a skid
plate with two tow hook, plus a shapely hood with an air intake. The rugged
design of the SUV is especially evident at the side where it has off-roading
tires and an impressive ride height, but variants with more road-focused tires
have also been rendered. At the rear, it has intriguing taillights with ‘+’
shaped graphics and a light bar, as well as a skid plate.
While a Hyundai exec has admitted that
such a vehicle would make sense for the automaker’s lineup, it currently has no
ladder-frame chassis to use and would have to develop one from scratch – and
even if it gets the green light, we doubt that it would look anything like this
illustration.
