Hyundai’s readying a hydrogen car that’ll look like this 400-mile ‘Initium’ concept

Next year, Hyundai will reveal a hydrogen-fuelled SUV that you can buy with real money, and it’ll look – and go – something like this. This is the Hyundai Initium concept, and it’s more than just a tech showcase.

It’s a design showcase too, offering us what they like to call in car circles a SNEAK PEEK at how future Hyundais – whatever their form – will look. The South Korean giant has been on a roll of late, and this concept shows it has no intention of slowing down.

Especially not when its concepts roll on 21in aero-honed wheels that reduce drag, and low rolling resistance tyres that offer… well, y’know. That’s because this concept targets a range of 404 miles (650km), via “large hydrogen fuel tanks” powering a 201bhp electric motor.

Naturally there are no 0-62mph times because it’s a concept car and also it’s a family concept car, but performance should be enough to get out of its own way. Hyundai only says that the Initium offers “excellent acceleration and smooth overtaking capability”.

It also says the concept offers a lot of space inside, with things like angled second-row seat backs for more comfort, a “large rear-door opening angle” (implying… well, y’know), and a wide body (implying greater shoulder and butt-room).

And it’s a handsome body. Sturdy. Chonky. Hyundai calls its SUV-shape “bold” and “solid”, and it’s certainly a statement of intent. There’s a cool light signature that marries up to the bumper, and a roof-rack too, suggesting… well, y’know.

SangYup Lee, Hyundai’s global design boss, said of his new car’s silhouette: “Our challenge began from the manufacturing stage, where we pushed the formability of steel to the extreme to create a form of art.”

Art that’ll be able to charge things in your house, mind, because the Initium – and likely whatever shape this transforms into for next year’s production car – offers a V2L (vehicle-to-load) feature, allowing the car to power household appliances.

One suspects next year’s hydrogen-fuelled SUV that you can buy with real money will likely be the new Nexo, because… that was Hyundai’s most recent hydrogen FCEV, itself following on from the company’s first-ever hydrogen car, the ix35. So it’s more than just a tech showcase…