Heart and Seoul of the Hyundai HND-9 Sports Coupe

Color changing seat belts, eight glorious gears, and over 360 horsepower… is this something you would be interested in?

Hyundai has introduced their HND-9 Sports Coupe Concept at the 2013 Seoul Motor Show, and we like what it had to say. The morning started off by it sauntering into the show with its Aston Martin-like grille, corvette rear haunches, and Lamborghini Murcielago butterfly doors. We thought it a bit showy.

And then it settled onto its platform, and began to blossom. Our initial individual observations began to meld together and become fully appreciated. The HND-9 is not just your average sports car. Yes, it has borrowed a few ideas from other automobiles, but they have never been put together in such a tantalizing way.

The HND-9 plays with your senses, offering a combination of steep racked sheet metal and smooth fleshy corners. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, it throws a new angle at you, and you have to take another long, hard look, until you admit, Yeah, I guess that does work!

As it stood on its perch, it didn’t have to speak a word, as we could already tell what it was thinking. It was taunting our understanding of the concept vehicle. Could, or rather, would Hyundai really produce such a complex and visually entertaining vehicle for masses?

Would they really go through the trouble to grind out all eight gears for its transmission, and go through the hassle of manufacturing color changing seat belts? Yeah, actually; we think they would. The only thing we wouldn’t expect to see on a showroom floor are those 22-inch wheels, which as awesome as they look, would not be very practical.

As we parted ways, we shared a final glance with the Hyundai Sport Coupe. However, this is not goodbye, but rather, until we meet again.

Although, next time, we hope they bring a spare set of keys.