Is the Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept the future Tucson PHEV?

From Los Angeles, a new PHEV SUV prototype is unveiled: the Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept

We had been expecting its presentation since mid-month, the place and event where Hyundai would show the seventh prototype based on its Sensuous Sportiness concept, which could have been named Hyundai Vision Urban according to the hints advanced by the brand.

But that is not the case. This concept car, shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in California (USA) as one of the year’s last proposals from automotive industry brands, is called Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept.

This is because the South Korean company states that this vehicle reflects its commitment to more efficient and sustainable mobility. To that end, one of the nods is the matte green paint on its bodywork.

Obviously, reducing fuel consumption and the emissions produced by burning it is not achieved by choosing a body colour, but rather through the design of the cars’ skin.

For this reason, the Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept features active solutions that allow greater efficiency in its interaction with the air when the SUV is moving, and closing the slats that make up the front grille when the vehicle is parked or stopped.

In addition, the powertrain, as its name suggests, is based on a layout where the main engine is a combustion unit combined with an electric motor which, in turn, draws its energy from the battery that stores electricity. In other words, it is a hybrid plug-in SUV prototype.

The shapes of the Hyundai prototype

In an effort to energise this type of vehicle, which takes its inspiration from classic off-roaders and adapts it to the tastes and demands of a public that rarely leaves the urban environment, the design team has opted for an SUV with a sharply inclined front and rear pillar cabin and a low central section, achieving a sharp look, supported by a bonnet that gradually slopes down to meet front lights shaped like wings that flank the active grille.

The combination of flat-faced panels overlapping one another thanks to ribbing and a profuse and pronounced musculature gives it an imposing stance, which increases its width at the wheel arches, protected by mudguards that define the space between the body and enormous 5-spoke alloy wheels.

The rear is strikingly bold, caused by the width it shows from the waistline, with a substantial presence, refined by lights that resemble the feathers set into a bird’s wings as it glides through the air.

In terms of its dimensions, at 4,610 millimetres long, 2,014 wide, 1,704 high and with a wheelbase of 2,804 mm, it sits between the 5-seat Hyundai Tucson crossover (4,480×1,850×1,645 with a 2,670-millimetre wheelbase) and the 7-seat Hyundai Santa Fe (4,770×1,890×1,680 with a 2,766 mm distance between the front and rear axles).

This suggests two possibilities. The first is that this Hyundai Vision prototype, named with the T of Tucson, shows a PHEV that could replace the current generation of the Hyundai Tucson, which reached the market in 2018. In that case, we would be talking about the future Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid.

On the other hand, the exponential growth in sales of SUV-bodied cars is unstoppable. Brands, including those in the Hyundai group, show that they do not want to leave any possible niche uncovered, and it would not be far-fetched to think of a new crossover from the brand between the aforementioned Tucson and Santa Fe.

In any case, these are assumptions that only time will confirm or refute, or the Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept may end up as just another of the prototypes never taken into production that are exhibited as examples of what design and engineering teams are capable of.