Nuvis Hybrid Concept Car Shows Hyundai’s Growing Interest in Gas-Electric Power

Hyundai’s newly-minted Nuvis concept is a winner on several fronts. First, it’s an obvious exploration to gauge interest in what could potentially be a next-generation Hyundai crossover vehicle. On that alone, count us in. But it also delves further into a gasoline-electric hybrid future that this Korean automaker increasingly seems bent on bringing to the highway sooner than later.

Already, Hyundai has shown its hand with a number of hybrid forays through its Blue Drive initiative. There’s the Avante LPI sedan, a hybrid model to be sold in Korea starting in July that combines electric drive with an internal combustion engine running on LPG (liquid petroleum gas, or propane). The Avante is known as the Elantra in the U.S. Also, Hyundai has shown its Santa Fe Blue Hybrid and has announced it will sell a Sonata hybrid in the U.S. next year.

Designed at Hyundai’s California Design Center in Irvine, California, Nuvis is wickedly cool in execution with a side profile that’s sleek and modern, but a bit deceptive in that it appears similar enough to what we’d imagine a next-generation crossover to be. But that impression disappears as perspective moves to a front view, where angular lines prevail with all details from headlamps and air ducts to the front grille and sculpted hood. Moving to the rear, Nuvis integrates an abbreviated rear window into its hatch that seems to have taken a page from the playbook of chop-top customs. All semblance of ‘everyday’ is lost, of course, when this concept’s gullwing doors are raised.

Inside, the blue and multi-hued grey interior offers a fluid design with four contoured bucket seats and a smart looking, raised rear package area that sits atop the car’s lithium-ion battery pack. Bathed in blue ambient lighting and blue acrylic accents, the cockpit takes its cues from fighter-jet design and is quite driver-focused with a prominent and angular instrument panel.

Central to this concept’s being is its Hyundai-developed hybrid powerplant. It incorporates a fuel-efficient 2.4-liter Theta II engine backed by a six-speed automatic transmission, along with a 40 horsepower (30kW) electric motor. To maximize efficiency, Nuvis can drive on battery electric power, the internal combustion engine, or the two combined depending on driving conditions. This is the same hybrid powerplant that will debut in the Sonata Hybrid in 2010.

Hyundai is no newcomer to hybrids even though knowledge of its activities in that world is rather slim here in the States. That’s understandable since this automaker’s first consumer hybrid offering in America is still a year away. When it does arrive, it will come with 15 years of hybrid developmental experience behind it since Hyundai developed its first hybrid prototype back in 1995. Over those years there have also been Elantra and Accent hybrid prototypes along with about 2,800 Accent and Getz models in service with Korean government fleets. By all measures, Hyundai’s hybrids are ready for prime time.