Chunky Hyundai Crater Concept Bound For LA Show

It’s nigh-on impossible for a big US-based automotive event to pass by these days without at least one manufacturer rolling out some sort of off-road-themed show car, such is the enormous popularity of overlanding in the country these days (think along the lines of British greenlaning, but bigger and with not as many rustly camouflaged trousers and flasks of tepid tea).

That’s not changing anytime soon, with this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show set to play host to the debut of the Hyundai Crater, a beefy-looking new off-road concept from a company that’s been repeatedly smashing it out of the park when it comes to design of late.

While solid details are still being kept under wraps, Hyundai has shown off some sketches and renders of what it’s calling an ‘extreme off-road show vehicle’ ahead of its full debut on 20 November.

With that, we invite you to join us for a game of Off-Road Concept Car Bingo. Dabbers at the ready. We’ve got knobbly tyres, tow hooks, underbody bash plates, roof-mounted spotlights and a big roof rack for carrying all your #lifestyleaccessories. Sounds like a full house to us.

Elsewhere, the Crater features the ‘parametric pixel’ lighting that Hyundai’s so fond of at the moment in a particularly minimalist form, with very slender arrangements for both head- and tail lights plus four individual little lighting units on the nose and tail.

Unsurprisingly, given its intended audience, the Crater has been created by Hyundai’s US technical centre in California, and the brand calls it a ‘compact’ SUV, although don’t forget that’s compact by US standards, so it could still be the same size as a small British village for all we know. What sort of thing might be powering it and whether Hyundai has any plans for production is all up in the air at the moment, but we’ll find out a lot more when it’s fully revealed in a couple of days.