LOS ANGELES — Hyundai has gotten weird at the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show, thanks to the Hyundai Crater Concept.
In a nod to design exercises of yore, the Crater is meant more to show off what the company could do with its XRT trims than it is to preview a production vehicle.
“CRATER began with a question: ‘What does freedom look like?’ This vehicle stands as our answer,” said SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design. “It is a vision shaped by our unending drive to explore — to inspire our customers to explore deeper and embrace the impact of adventure.”
The 18-inch wheels host 33-inch rubber, and Hyundai says the inspiration for their shape is an asteroid hitting ground and creating a, well, crater.
Other details include a skid plate, a roof platform, auxiliary lighting, hood-to-roof cables to deflect branches, and suicide doors.
Inside, the concept is set up for customization in terms of wireless devices, the head-up display is full width and incorporates the rearview-mirror camera, there is ambient lighting, a roll cage, and a display in the center of the steering wheel.
The Crater looks like something out of a sci-fi movie set in the near future. I think it looks kind of cool and while a toned-down version would probably do well in production, I suspect no such vehicle will be built. Instead, look for various styling elements and functional features — though probably not suicide doors — in a XRT-badged Hyundai near you in the near future.
[Images: Hyundai]
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