Each automotive company, it seems, seeks to present its most versatile face in the form of vehicles ready for the land. Even the models that were perhaps not appropriate in the past in the past are tightened to capitalize on the trend of arrows that has exploded in recent years. Hyundai is no exception to this movement, launching gradually more difficult versions of some of its vehicles. The Korean car manufacturer has even sponsored a team from the rebel off -road rally competition, equivalent to the Brute Squad team with a raised version of its Santa Cruz, a compact SUV with a small truck bed.
The new iteration of the Make-it-Twher phase of Hyundai emerged in the form of the XRT Pro palisade, a more robust variant of the popular Palisade de Hyundai. This three-row SUV is one of the best sellers of the brand, and it is even more versatile that it is modified for the light all-terrain. Equipped with a newly developed 3.5 liter V6 engine making 287 horsepower and up to 260 LB-PI. of torque, the XRT Pro palisade also includes all-terrain tires, a limited slip electronic rear differential, and better approach and departure angles due to revised front and rear bumpers.
Creating the new Palisade, the designers and engineers of Hyundai had to agree on the shape and scale of the vehicle. The end result is a beautiful capable beast; However, some give and taken were necessary to get there.
Manage the inherent tension between engineering and design
Any new car starts with a design stroke – a pen of a pen sketching images of what the brand believes that the vehicle can be. The designers are trained to stretch their imagination, but they also understand the parameters of engineering and personality of the automaker. Sometimes the creative team begins to color outside the lines to dream of a concept car, which can possibly turn into something that looks like it as a production car.
From the design stage, engineers and designers converge to understand how to meet in a mutually active place. The tension between the two departments can grow, but ultimately the winning party must be the car itself. Both parties are used to thrust and traction, and this could be a bit like negotiations on a free market: the buyer offers $ 100, the seller requests $ 150. The buyer offers $ 125 to meet in the middle.
Soomin Choe is the Director of Exterior Creative Design of the Hyundai Design Center North America. During his 35 years of career in career, he spent 13 years in Hyundai and he knew the nature of negotiation.
“To distinguish the XRT Pro, we wanted it to have more aggressive lines,” explains Choe. “We have spoken with engineers of materials, manufacturing and laws on production requirements, which occupies about 80% of our design process. We fight for each millimeter while we work with the design. ”
In some cases, the law has the last word on what the design will include.
“Each country has different laws and regulations that we must follow,” explains Choe. “For example, on the Korean market, car manufacturers are required to add a lower bumper structure beam to the front for pedestrian law, a characteristic of the United States does not need.”
Incorporate recovery hooks in the context
One of the largest friction points between design and engineering has been to add front and rear recovery hooks, a key feature to help remove the vehicle from a sticky situation of the trail – or to allow the XRT Pro Palisade to help another vehicle. The palisade had not included this feature in the past, so the design and engineering teams had to look carefully at the SUV to understand what made the most sense both aesthetically and physically.
Unlike towing hooks, which are designed for regular movements, recovery hooks are intended for explicit off -road and emergency use. The addition of recovery hooks to a monohull SUV like the palisade is more difficult than it would be on a body of the body on a frame, like a Toyota Tacoma. Trucks like Tacoma are built with two separate and separate pieces: the body and a rectangular steel frame.
Some SUVs are fortified with a spare bumper frame which incorporates the recovery hooks, but which modifies the overall function of the original vehicle. In this case, the hooks are built directly from the factory. Making such an integrated convenience was important for the whole team, to show that the XRT Pro Palisade was not only posed for off -road photos; This is the real deal.
“In order to set a recovery hook, it requires a lot of strength and the space chassis is generally not capable of this,” says Choe. “But the engineers fought to find this position where we can attach this point and make it functional.”
To reach this level of functionality, the recovery hooks had to be able to support the total weight of the SUV. The engineers identified a stain on the bumper frame and located the hooks there. In order to integrate it into the design of the lower grille, they worked with the design team for adjustments that made sense for both sides of the team.
In the end, Hyundai produced an improved new version of the Palisade which is much more than grocery shopping and trips to the football field. And with these recovery hooks for the journey, the route has become much more interesting.
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