Hyundai has teamed up with the Munich University of Applied Sciences in Germany to come up with a concept for the Car Design Event 2025. The Hyundai Obsidian was not announced before the CDE 2025 event started, but overshadows the Hyundai Initium concept, the KIA EV2 Concept, and the Genesis X Gran Convertible concept. According to Korean Car Blog, the full-scale model, including the luxurious interior, comes from Transportation Design student Dominik Anders with “crucial” support from automotive Hyundai, the Munich-based design studio Apostrophe Design, and the AI-tool specialist Vizcom.

The Elephant In The Room

The project evolved from a brief by Eduardo Ramirez, head of design at Hyundai Europe, in the form of a simple question: “What could be the next enriching experience for Hyundai drivers?” Anders envisioned a sports car with a luxurious, spacious cabin and a monolithic silhouette.

Unfortunately, while it may be a technically brilliant piece of design, it also looks like the front half is heavily inspired by the Tesla Cybertruck, particularly the heavily angled windshield carrying on the line from the hood, and the back by 1970s shooting brakes. The Tesla Cybertruck itself is clearly inspired by 1970s ideas of what future cars would look like – particularly something called the UrbaCar, a concept that was featured in a 1975 edition of Mechanix Illustrated magazine.

More subtly, perhaps, the Hyundai Obsidian concept reminds us of another retro-futuristic concept, but from Honda. The Obsidian’s flat front facia with pixel LED headlights reminds us strongly of the Honda 0 Saloon, which in turn calls back to the Aston Martin Bulldog, which is clearly a heavy influence on, let’s say it together: The Tesla Cybertruck.

Let’s Remember, The Hyundai Obsidian Has Huge Value

There’s no mention of what could power the Hyundai Obsidian, and it’s going to be irrelevant as it is incredibly unlikely to get near production. However, we would love to see the accented wheels appear on a production car in the future. As a design touch, it is retro-futuristic, but it also helps fix the problem of black wheels on a black car having no definition. And that’s the point of concepts like this. They don’t exist as planned production cars, but as an idea as a whole, and to conceptualize specific ideas – like the accented wheels.

We should also remember that this is Hyundai working to help foster emerging talent and explore innovation in automotive design. Hyundai clearly sees talent in Anders and the people he worked with, and put his design center stage, surrounded by the other Hyundai concepts. This is a big moment for the young designer, and puts them on the world stage.

Are We Now Locked In A Retro-Futuristic Infinity Loop?

We’re in an interesting period of automotive design that’s rough starting point came with the success of the Dodge Challenger when it emerged from the early 2000s attempts at retro-contemporary design but actually did it brilliantly. It leaned heavily into nostalgia, and every automaker has been doing that since. The retro-futuristic wave is the logical follow-on from that, and Hyundai has been one of the automakers blatantly playing with it in the form of concepts like the Retro N Vision 74 and more subtly, even brilliantly, with the Ioniq 5’s hot-hatch looks harking back to the 1980s.

However, the danger is that in another 30 years, designers will be looking back to the 2020s for inspiration or as a way of triggering nostalgia in people who grew up seeing these cars when they were young. It’s a cynical thing to think about, but it does tickle us to imagine that in 2055, future journalists will be covering retro-futuristic concepts and cars inspired by retro-futuristic cars.

Source: Hyundai via Korean Car Blog