Happy Inster

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Fantastically ridiculous: The Hyundai Insteroid (or an Inster ‘on steroids’) integrates gaming elements with over-the-top sporty design. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

An oversized wing spoiler dominates the rear fascia of the Insteroid. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

A spartan cockpit features an instrument cluster that harks back to early days of digital. The in-your-face design language is meant to be immersive. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

Inster eggs: The model’s mascot Boost appears no less than 23 times on the Insteroid. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

Hyundai Insteroid Exterior Design Manager Nicola Danza (left) and Hyundai European Design Center Head of Interior Design Raphael Bretecher — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

A production-model Hyundai Inster was the blank slate upon which the Hyundai Motor European design team crafted the Insteroid. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

Members of the international media and content creators were able to see the Insteroid in advance at the Peaches D8NE in Seoul, South Korea. — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

This concept version of Hyundai’s electric subcompact ‘urban SUV’ stretches the imagination

REMEMBER THE DAYS in school when you had nothing but a pen in hand and a blank piece of paper in front of you? Your inspiring, supportive teacher (raise your hand if you had more than one) just gave you a theme and challenged you to imagine anything you wanted onto that clean sheet.

That was basically the brief: To take the Inster and run away with the idea.

“It was one of our fastest projects. I think it was six months from scratch to running car,” said Hyundai Insteroid Exterior Design Manager Nicola Danza in an interview with “Velocity” and Ulysses Ang of CarGuide.ph at the Peaches D8NE in Seoul, South Korea recently. “The initial inspiration was extremely clear,” added Hyundai European Design Center Head of Interior Design Raphael Bretecher. “So there were no loops of change, things like that. We identified nice sketches… (and) just ran with them. We had the green light. We could do the car without any doubts. We went straight to the point.”

This writer asked for the project brief — the mission or use case for the Insteroid. “It was a simple question. What if young guys designed a car for themselves? Why don’t we do a car for the next generation that you can use yourself, without the pollution of all this experience or too much experience in the process? Well, just have fun and see what you could come up with. And that was the result,” revealed Mr. Danza.

Mr. Ang asked if the youth-oriented nature of the project was the reason for choosing the Inster as a “starting point.” “Yeah, it’s the smallest car in our range, and we put it on top of a big battery pack to see what comes up. And that’s why the name combines these two words: ‘Inster’ and ‘steroids’ from the high-powered battery,” continued Mr. Danza.

To be clear, the Insteroid was not created with the purposive intent of realizing a production model in the near future, but to “push the boundaries of automotive design.” The model was crafted to enshrine Hyundai’s “bold approach, merging gaming influences with extensive customization to capture a new generation of drivers,” Hyundai Motor Company said in a release.

As designers explained shortly after the unveiling of the Insteroid during a special preview, they were unfettered by pragmatic considerations when crafting the vehicle. “It’s concept car; it’s a platform with lots of ideas. And even if the car doesn’t come like it is into production — it’s not the goal anyway — there are always sport ideas that we can identify later,” insisted Mr. Bretecher. “(We can) mature them and probably use them in more realistic projects. So I would say again, I mean, it’s a kind of platform of ideas.”

Joined Mr. Danza: “Even more than that, if I can add, is that I think we can get back even more than two lines on the production car. It’s more the creativity level of the guys raised so much that everybody gets inspired by that, even the rest of the team. So the team benefits from this sort of experiment… then we bring this creativity and emotional part into a production project. And at brand level, I think it lifts up even more the image of Hyundai to a younger generation.”

As Hyundai Motor Company Senior Vice-President and Hyundai Design Center Simon Loasby put it in a statement, “It’s not just about how (the Insteroid) looks, also how it sounds and how it makes you feel. From its bold visual language to the immersive sound experience, it’s a concept car that invites everyone to dream a little louder and smile a little longer.”

Certainly, the videogame-inspired aesthetics of the Insteroid drew not a few media practitioners and content creators during the opening day of the Seoul Mobility Show where Hyundai unveiled a couple of new models (more on those soon).

Seen through a wider lens, there is something additional at stake, as elucidated by Mr. Bretecher. “And you should notice, and I think you did, that this car is not just a car, a next car. It’s this combination of a car and the video games which we want to appeal to the younger generation… I’m quite convinced that you can grab the attention of the younger people.”

It’s important to do so, he stressed, because, “in Europe, at least, you see a dissatisfaction… many young people are not interested in cars anymore.” Mr. Bretecher added that, also in Europe, a growing number of people are not getting a driver’s license. With the Insteroid, the designers want them to feel a connection with cars — and its industry — again. From that, hopefully, passion will follow.

Mr. Danza concluded, “(Kids) used to have a car poster in their bedroom. Maybe, the Insteroid can be that poster now.”