2004 E3 | Concept Car | Design

Overview

The E3 is the third in a series of Hyundai concept cars to be designed in Europe and the first creation of Hyundai's new European Design Center. Meeting the unique tastes and needs of Europeans, the E3 name can be understood to stand for three "E" values: Enjoyment, Environment and Extraordinary.

Taken a step further, the name suggests new ways of using cubic space to create a mobile personal environment that meets the needs and wants of tomorrow's more demanding customers.

Style

Exterior Style and Interior Luxury Externally the E3 manifests a sleek but essentially strong profile, the integration of the B-pillar into the door frame construction showing the interior to excellent effect. The front and rear use of LED lighting, allowing a significant reduction in light size, allows non-obtrusive light treatments, which fully meld into the front and rear styling. This reduction in size leads to increased lens versatility, for example the replacement of rear view mirrors with an Indicam, which also houses the side marker lights.

The E3 is a fully drivable concept car which hints at the future design directions of Hyundai's next generation C-segment car. The E3 impresses visitors less by flashy exterior styling, than by thought provoking details in the car's interior layout. The E3 has the ability to seat four adults in real comfort. Unique seat mountings offering multiple configurations add a spacious and airy "walk through" dimension to the front. A multi-tiered center console containing large, unobtrusive and integrated storage spaces is "suspended" between the front seats reaching rearwards. The result is a reassuring, yet futuristic, grand limousine realized in mass market size. Intrusive and largely redundant dials and gauges have been dispensed with, replaced by a multi function speedometer, plus a retractable center console featuring an LCD information screen developed in conjunction with VDO. A vertically sliding communications center also shows a clever way ahead for in-car communication device storage. Extending the stress reduction and user-friendly attention to detail further, all the major climate and sound controls have been incorporated into one sculptured control unit which, also developed in conjunction with VDO and designed to feel good, fall naturally to hand while being immediately and instinctively understandable to any driver. In addition the single spoke steering wheel, holding the airbag, adds another functional aspect of elegance to an already imposing interior concept.

Practicality

Naturally using the exceptionally handsome Coupe as a basis has helped ensure that the CCS is attractive. The most noticeable styling changes are those from the doors back. The slightly higher overall level of the boot lid/rear decking enables it to absorb the folded roof while still offering the largest boot volume in the sector. The consequent modifications to the rear wings and the lights have been achieved with a minimum of disruption to the overall lines of the car, the result has a harmonious and complete look to it. However, certain other styling modifications have been included in the study. Not only are the rear light clusters new, the transparent front clusters add a higher level of visual refinement. New 18 inch wheels with 225/40 x 18 Michelin tires give a lighter and more sportive outlook. A new color, Warm Silver, was developed for the paintwork - while the paint itself is highlighted by the shimmer of glass micro-elements The Hyundai CCS is a car styled to appeal to the emotions. A car that looks just as good in the car park as on the autobahn, a car which expresses a distinct personality and personal assertiveness without being aggressive in any way

Interior

The whole concept of the CCS Convertible is designed to give a feeling of airy space. Of freedom and excitement combined with personal control over precisely how much open air or weather the occupants want. This is nowhere more visible than in the interior. Both the steering wheel and dashboard are covered in brown leather, adding an extra degree of sophistication to an already well appointed and sportive "office."

The metallic elements, including the ventilation and a/c outlets, speaker surrounds, bezels etc., have been specially treated with a warm glow process that blends them discretely into this ambience, again adding an extra element of refinement. Naturally a premium car deserves the best sound system. Here the 280 W combination of Becker hardware and Infinity speakers is very hard to beat. The brown leather trimmed seats are the highly acclaimed and supportive sports style items from the Coupe, developed in association with Recaro. Standard features include eight-way adjustable front seats with memory system. As a further concession to comfort, woven and ventilated leather has been used for the central inserts in the squabs and seat backs. The rear seats have been slightly modified to accommodate the new roof system, but the rear passenger space remains an object lesson in good interior planning and packaging. In terms of luggage capacity the study boasts and impressive 443 liters boot space with the roof closed, and 244 liters with it folded. Enough for most romantic holidays, the occasional family picnic, or the type of business use that does not require a mobile workshop or showroom. Further storage is available inside the car in the form of map pockets etc. In fact, taken overall, the impression is of a sportive personal car, ready to cruise the length of the Corniche or undertake the local school run with equal panache and distinction. A car that offers the demanding and discerning motorist the practica aspects of high-tech fresh air motoring, while tempering it with a wonderfully traditional ambience and adding a whole new dimension of practicality.