Hyundai showed off the fiercely designed Crater concept at the Los Angeles car show. It gave people a look into what the XRT subbrand might look like in the future. The Crater concept is an electric car. It has a sleek, industrial look, a roof rack, limb risers, tow hooks built into the bumpers, and 33-inch all-terrain tires. The cabin doesn’t have a normal entertainment screen. Instead, it has a roll cage built in and a head-up display that covers the whole window. The XRT mark, which indicates the SUV can go off-road, first appeared on the Santa Fe’s rear in 2022. It quickly spread to Tucson and Palisade as well. The most current Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro is the first of a series of bigger changes. The first XRT models were not very different, with mostly cosmetic and tire packages. At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Hyundai showed off the Crater concept, a boldly styled SUV that shows how off-road-ready Hyundais will look in the future. Hyundai’s latest “Art of Steel” styling approach is clearly showcased in the design of the Crater. This style was first used on the Initium idea and later adopted by the second-generation Nexo. The dramatic, mechanical style of the Crater fits its appearance. This vehicle has all the traits of an off-roader: short overhangs and steeply curved bumpers that give it very good approach and departure angles. One of the front tow hooks can be used to open bottles once you get to the spot and spend the night by the fire. The strong bumpers have metal skid plates and orange tow hooks. It has a small robot face that you can see if you look very closely. Our mascot for this idea is Crater Man. We’ll learn more about him later. Going back to the parts, the high ground clearance comes from strong 33-inch all-terrain tires and a raised chassis. Hyundai says the hexagon-shaped, strong 18-inch wheels on these “were inspired by picturing a hexagonal asteroid impacting a surface made of metal and leaving a crater in its wake.” The bumpers of the Ioniq 5 XRT have the same “pixel camo” effect on the black wheel arches and body trim. Hyundai said the Crater is an electric vehicle (EV), but they didn’t say much else about the engine. Hyundai said the idea has all-wheel drive and front- and rear-locking differentials to help it handle rocks better, but we don’t know how much power it has or how far it can go. It is also suggested that you have trailer brake control and hill descent control. The Crater should do well on muddy, bumpy ground because the electric engine delivers power precisely. Off-road choices also include limb risers, which are wires that run from the hood to the roof and push annoying tree branches out of the way, and a beautiful roof rack that can hold extra lights to light the way. We’ve come to expect the retro-futuristic jagged look from Hyundai EVs, and these lights, like the headlights and taillights, have it. Pixel lighting is used even in the side-view mirrors, which are really just cameras. In its home market, Hyundai already uses these on cars like the Nexo, but we still don’t have them in the US because of old rules. The Crater idea’s changeable camera mirrors can be used as a flashlight or to record what you do outside. The Crater’s cabin looked strong and ready for anything, with a built-in roll cage, but when we stepped inside, we found it surprisingly snug, with soft yet strong materials. The seats are shaped like sleeping bags and are composed of several cylindrical parts covered in black leather and Alcantara. There is a four-point belt on each chair, and the roll cage has a built-in grab handle to help you get into the back seats. A warm orange light shines from the dashboard and doors into the car, making it bright. It doesn’t have a single large screen in the middle of the dashboard like most current cars do. Instead, it has four small screens. The driver can get most of the information they need from a head-up display that spans the full width of the window. We like head-up screens, but we wonder if all the information they show could become annoying. The picture was clear and easy to see. There are still a lot of physical controls, though. For example, there are many air control buttons below, and the differentials and all-wheel-drive system are adjusted with cylinder-shaped parts that look like gears. You can also change between Snow, Sand, Mud, Auto, and XRT modes on the square steering wheel. The center console has a removable Bluetooth speaker, a first-aid kit, and a fire extinguisher, just like the Toyota Tacoma and 4Runner. There are also many other adventure-ready features all over the inside. Crater Man, the mascot mentioned earlier, is used in both the exterior and interior design, as well as in engaging activities such as music-making software and a video game. The head-up display shows a platform game when the game mode is on. When the player presses on one of the small screens, Crater Man jumps to the next level and his face moves around the game. In music mode, a computerized song plays while the four screens switch between different percussion sounds you can mix. There is also a camp option that lets you switch between showing the area around your camp via a night-vision trail camera, simulating a campfire with the sound of burning logs playing over the speakers, and simulating rain with the roar of a downpour. Hyundai isn’t teasing that the Crater concept will be made. Instead, the SUV is a sneak peek at the features and style that we might see on future XRT cars. Hyundai really wants to take the XRT subbrand even further off the beaten path, even if that means making a special off-road vehicle to fight with the Jeep Recon and other off-road EVs.
