Hyundai's HDC-2 Grandmaster Concept Shows New Design Direction, Little Flash

Hyundai today revealed the HDC-2 Grandmaster concept as the highlight of a brand presentation at the 2018 Busan International Motor Show in South Korea, and it’s … well, it’s something. The modestly presented SUV concept received top billing in a showcase that included Hyundai’s further elaboration on its future design strategy, dubbed the Hyundai Look.

Related: Hey, Alexa! What Cars Can I Talk to With My Amazon Echo?

According to Hyundai, the HDC-2 name is chess-related. “While the world’s finest chess champion is called the grandmaster, the concept vehicle is named to indicate that just as the sum of all chess pieces completes the game of chess, all forthcoming Hyundai vehicles will come to form a harmonious vehicle lineup demonstrating the Hyundai Look while each maintains distinctive character and role.” If you can explain how that has anything to do with a bishop’s gambit, you’re doing better than us.

The HDC-2 Grandmaster — I’m mad at Hyundai for making me write that out repeatedly — looks an awful lot like the Kia Telluride SUV concept from the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. That makes sense; Hyundai and Kia do a lot of platform, design and powertrain sharing. Hyundai calls the design elements (not to be confused with the design strategy) “Sensuous Sportiness,” which was first demonstrated in the HDC-1 Le Fil Rouge concept at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. The HDC-2 Grandmaster is a lot less sporty-looking; make your own call about its sensuousness.

Could the Grandmaster — shortening it just makes me think of Grandmaster Flash or the Marvel Comics character Jeff Goldblum played in “Thor: Ragnarok” — make it to production? Possibly. The U.S. market is SUV-crazy right now and Hyundai’s three-row Santa Fe is on the smaller side of things, so a new and larger flagship SUV makes sense. It would likely share a great deal with a similar offering from Kia and could also end up as a more luxurious Genesis SUV.

Take a look at the images above and expect to see something resembling this SUV available in the next few years.

Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.