Hyundai HND-9 ‘Venace’ Concept unveiled in Seoul

Previewed here two weeks ago, the striking Hyundai HND-9 Venace Concept made its in-the-metal debut at the Seoul Auto Show. While not destined for direct conversion to production status, Suk-Geun Oh, head of Hyundai’s Design Center in Namyang, Korea, says the HND-9 "will give customers a glimpse of Hyundai’s future luxury sports coupe models." Embodying a more sophisticated evolution of the firm’s "Fluidic Sculpture" design language, this rear-wheel drive exercise matches performance mechanicals with premium character.

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Slightly larger than the current Genesis Coupe, the HND-9 Venace Concept complements its dramatic lines and advanced LED lighting elements with large butterfly-hinged doors. This striking one-off also features 22-inch alloy wheels with carbon fiber inserts. Inside, the car’s equally avant-garde 2+2 cabin is framed in distinctive spiral-shaped metal trim and features a futuristic dash and steering wheel design that channels cues from a modern aircraft cockpit. The HND-9’s deeply bolstered sport buckets are covered in a trick hue-shifting mesh fabric that reflects different colors based on varying lighting conditions.

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Motivation for the HND-9 is supplied by a new, gasoline-burning 365-horsepower/3.3-liter direct-injected V6 that sends power to the rear wheels via Hyundai’s 8-speed automatic transmission. How much of the exotic Venace Concept actually transitions to a volume-build street car — and to the next-gen Hyundai Genesis Coupe, in particular – remains to be seen. While several of its pure "show car" features won’t make the cut, a good deal of the NHD-9’s basic visual and mechanical makeup (and perhaps even the Venace name itself) may well arrive in showrooms for what’s likely to be a 2016 model.