Driving the Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept

There's something strangely familiar about the Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept. As it comes toward you, there's something about the angle of the front pillars and the way the roof line rises toward the rear of the car that triggers an image in your subconscious. And then your memory syncs; those A-pillars and the rising roof line echo the cockpit of the Batmobile from the movies of the 1990s.

First seen at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show, the Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept does have a little of the hunching thrust of the Batman's satin-black beast, though it does without a snub nose that's been shaped around the intake of a gas turbine.

There's more than style at stake here, though. The Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept is a diesel hybrid, a proposition that promises breathtaking improvements in fuel efficiency, although few car companies anywhere have done much to explore the possibilities because the technology is too expensive for an affordable production car.

So this is a unique sort of concept from the Korean automaker, because it expresses the company's deliberate climb upmarket, its embrace of green propulsion systems and its increasingly enthusiastic grasp of new technologies.

Styling by Wayne Industries
The Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept does seem a bit more like a movie car than a transportation pod. For example, the i-flow's seats are made from a curious gel-like substance that glows blue, while its interior controls can be triggered without the need to touch them. It has a glass roof inlaid with leaf-shaped solar cells and its windshield wipers have been replaced by an air blade.

The i-flow concept is proof of Hyundai's growing determination to build unique-looking cars that you will recognize as Hyundais, and a convincing demonstration that the company is perfectly capable of developing its own sophisticated design language. In this case, the design language is called "fluidic sculpture." And the vehicle here is actually an advance look at the Hyundai i40, a reskinned 2011 Hyundai Sonata that Hyundai will sell in Europe later this year, which explains why the concept has come from Hyundai's European design studio near Frankfurt, Germany.

Much of the styling inspiration comes from elements of Korean culture, explains designer Jochen Werner. "It's all about the interplay of positive and negative surfaces," he says. "The negative surfaces are inspired by the roofs of Korean temples, which also thin toward their edges." The Koreans are seen as the Italians of Asia in terms of their style, says Werner, which is why the i-flow is an expressive, fluent and sensuous design. We'll see the i-flow's hexagonal grille on some models, as well as the asymmetric grille mesh inspired by the veins of a leaf.

Unfortunately the concept is presently propelled by a rather fruity-sounding gasoline V6.

Of course there's more than style at work here, because the Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept has a sleek 0.25 Cd, a function of several active aerodynamic features, including a front airdam that lowers with speed, a shifting rear diffuser and articulated rocker-sill extensions. The radiator grille also closes off when the engine doesn't require cooling from the air stream, while the use of a blind-spot warning system enables the use of very small outside mirrors.

Pushing the Limits of Fuel Efficiency
The powertrain follows through with the leafy styling references with a very green concept, a diesel hybrid. The basic building block is a turbocharged 1.7-liter diesel inline-4. It makes a rather modest 115 horsepower, but it's supplemented by a 30-kilowatt (40-hp) electric motor. Together they power the i-flow's front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission.

The i-flow's advanced lithium-polymer battery pack is said to be 20 percent lighter, 40 percent more compact and 10 percent more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride pack found in a Toyota Prius. But the i-flow's most unusual underhood feature is the encapsulation of its engine to harness wasted heat. While an uninsulated engine takes just three hours to drop from operating temperature to a comparatively reasonable 104 degrees Fahrenheit, this thermo-insulated motor extends the process to 14 hours. Eliminating the need to heat and reheat the engine during a daily duty cycle produces a net improvement of fuel savings of 5 percent in summer and 9 percent in winter. In addition, the i-flow incorporates a thermo-electric generator that captures waste heat from the exhaust and then converts it to electrical power, reducing fuel consumption by another 5 percent.

Thanks to these innovations, the Hyundai i-flow diesel hybrid is capable of 78 mpg, the Hyundai engineers promise.

Backseat Imagineering
The front seats swivel out through 30 degrees, just like some car from the GM Motorama of the 1950s. To access the backseat, you first unlatch the front doors of this pillarless sedan, which triggers some elaborate choreography that allows the rear door panels to extend clear of the cabin on motorized arms. It doesn't seem practical but it does create quite a show.

The interior of the cabin is a bit more realistic, as Hyundai has collaborated with BASF, the German chemical company, to produce several new, appealing treatments in special lightweight materials. The seats are upholstered with a new simulated leather material called Steron and a translucent, blue gel-like substance made from recycled polymers that's weirdly pleasant to touch. When the car is fired up this gel glows blue, revealing the fiberglass seat framework beneath.

Although the gel is unlikely to see production, the durable leatherette is impressively realistic and satisfying to the touch, and promises to breathe better than real leather. Fiberglass seat construction is also on the horizon as part of an overall dedication to reducing weight.

The Power of Gesture
The dashboard's flamboyant fascia also features new materials, including a material called Elastoskin, which can be very precisely embossed. For the Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept, a series of parallel grooves swoop elegantly across the top before fading to nothing as they drop toward the center console. It's an attractive finish, and one that should do much to lift the quality of Hyundai's midmarket cars.

When you start the car, a series of controls illuminate on the smooth, featureless instrument panel. These are operated by what Hyundai calls "gestural movements," and your hand need only hover across the surface of a control in order to operate it.

Though this technology is some way off for Hyundai, it can be found today in Jaguar's XF and XJ, where it opens the glovebox. On the i-flow the system does a whole lot more, operating the gear selector and the infotainment system, though it has you wondering what might happen when a particularly expressive occupant gesticulates close to a critical zone.

Driving Up the Hill
The Hyundai i-flow Hybrid Concept is a concept car, so not everything works, but it does drive, and we got our chance behind the wheel on the hill climb for the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Unfortunately the concept is presently propelled by a rather fruity-sounding gasoline V6 rather than the diesel hybrid powertrain. Nevertheless, the whole driving experience proved extremely pleasurable thanks to the spacious impression delivered by the large sunroof and flat floor, not to mention the unusual style of the upholstery, the dashboard, the steering wheel and the controls.

The Hyundai i-flow also looks good, as its cab-forward proportions express pent-up power, even if the nose is slightly too stumpy. But bold, elegant, expressive and individual design like this is what Hyundai needs to make the cut as midmarket carmaker of character.

Of course, this is a concept that's a long way from reality. But the good news is that Hyundai President Chung Mong-Koo has been taken with the i-flow, which suggests we could see very solid echoes of this car in the Hyundais of tomorrow.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.