The Hyundai Insteroid Is What You Get When Car Designs Become Unhinged

Car designers are often constrained either by engineers or worse, by financers. But what happens when those limitations are removed? You get one-off concept cars like the Hyundai Insteroid.

Based on the Inster EV micro-SUV, Hyundai Motor’s European design team just had one question in mind: What If? Merging the wild, no-holds-barred virtual world of video games and the real-world sensibilities of car manufacturing, the Insteroid is all about challenging conventions, creating emotions, and redefining what an EV could be.

The Insteroid features an extended, widened body with exaggerated mismatched 21-inch wheels, prominent wing spoiler, diffuser, and wheel arch air vents. Finished in a soft white shade, it’s punctuated by bold orange highlights. It’s equal parts retro, equal parts futuristic—something Hyundai’s been able to pull off with their recent designs. If it looks like a purpose-built racing machine, that’s on point, but it’s not limited by, say something like, Hyundai N’s engineering-centric development.

The striking exterior, almost bordering on the comically exaggerated gives way to a simplified, stripped-down interior with the driver being the central focus. It has racing bucket seats, a roll cage, and a specialized instrument cluster that interplays pixel elements, cutting-edge graphics, and a unique mascot named Boost that appears as a co-pilot or companion.

Boost also appears throughout the Insteroid with the number, “23” connoting just how many times it comes out.

More than just a visual assault, the Insteroid is all about delivering an immersive experience with playful details including the “Beat House” sound system and a “Message Grid” that’s able to display personalized interactions. The seats, finished in a 3D knit is sustainable, made from recycled yarns using a single-piece, made-to-measure process. Hyundai even developed a new sound signature for the Insteroid.

The Insteroid represents Hyundai’s vision of automotive innovation and imagination. It’s also meant to stir enthusiasm, especially among young drivers who see it as the modern take on what their dream car could be.

There are no plans to bring the Insteroid to production, but instead the Inster has been confirmed to roll into more markets globally, including markets in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Central and South American regions this year.

Meanwhile, the wild Insteroid will head over to the virtual world via a video game developed by Hyundai Motor. This time-attack-style challenge, where players collect ‘steroid’ items in the Inster (enabling the car to evolve into the Insteroid) will be made available to the public via a URL link sometime in April.