The Hyundai Tucson is a perennially popular family car, but distinctive design has never been its main selling point. However, when the all-new model makes its world debut later this month, we’re all but guaranteed to be bowled over by its avant-garde appearance and futuristic interior.

We recently published renders of the all-new Tucson, which is likely to be introduced in South Africa during the first half of 2021 and speculated about the powertrain and peak outputs of the rumoured N variant of the next-gen model. Click here to review that story.

Hyundai has integrated the daytime running lights within the elaborate grille design; the frontal look is thoroughly distinctive.

We expected the brand’s “Sensuous Sportiness” design language to influence the look of the upcoming Tucson, but when SangYup Lee, the Senior Vice President and Head of Hyundai Global Design Centre, was recently quoted as saying that the 4th-generation Tucson would make people “freak out”, he clearly wasn’t joking…

In teasing the all-new Tucson, which will be officially unveiled on September 15, with these stylised images, Lee adds: “(The new) Tucson’s advanced, experimental design is true to its pioneering spirit and raises the game in the industry’s most competitive segment.”

Virtually all the Korean brand’s latest models sport expansive, cascading grilles with a distinctive pattern, with narrow headlamp clusters/indicator elements that merge into a single design element. The new Tucson is no exception– its LED daytime running lights are cleverly integrated into the jewel-like grille, and only revealed when activatedby the driver.

The lighting signature of the new Tucson is characterised by a wraparound LED light bar and jewel-like tail-light clusters.

The newcomer is notably wider than its predecessor and based on a stretched wheelbase; the extra length, combined with the longer bonnet and short overhangs give the family car a coupé-like profile. From the side, angular body panels feature “Parametric Dynamics” (such as swage lines that run at different angles but “meet at one point”), the wheel arches are squared off and the C-pillars feature metallic-look accents that blend with the window trims. It's certainly a design that emphasises athleticism, so we can imagine that an N model based on this family car will look really purposeful!

The Tucson’s rear-end, meanwhile, incorporates a strike plate-adorned bumper, triangular LED tail-light clusters, a light bar that spans the width of the tailgate and a subtle roof spoiler.

As for the interior, Hyundai says its “dual-cockpit layout offers personalised space intuitively optimised for a high-tech user experience… an interspace with an integrated interface”.

Although it looks like a black-and-white photograph, this "interior image" is but asketch –finer details have yet to be revealed.

Setting the firm's purple prose aside for the moment, it's fair to say that if the exterior execution of the Korean firm’s new family car is astounding, well, then its interior is positively mind-blowing. For example, Hyundai has not just replaced an analogue instrument cluster with a digitalone – it’s discarded the binnacle entirely and replaced it with a display panel that's embedded in the dashboard.

Meanwhile, the pronounced dashboard ridge features a pair of metallic trim lines that extend through the upper door trims (so creating a wraparound effect for each of the front occupants), while the “floating” fascia, which sprouts from the elevated centre console and merges with the slim vents in the middle of the dashboard, is dominated by a large, tablet-like touchscreen. Very futuristic!

We’ll be sure to bring you official details as and when they become available later this month.

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