The ix-onic (pronounced "ik-sonnik") concept is a preview of the next Tuscon, designed in Hyundai's Russelsheim studio under the leadership of Thomas Buerkle. With a length of 4400mm and 1650mm tall, it will compete with softroaders such as the Nissan Qashqai, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and BMW's new X1. The aim of the design was to use Hyundai's 'dynamic sculpture' design philosophy to fuse a light, elegant and sporty upper body, with belt lines flowing off both the front and rear wheel arches, to a tough, planted lower body. In this respect the design seems to succeed and the modeling of the sculpted fenders is beautifully handled.

Although it has similarities to a Ford Kuga from some angles, there are some good details here. Note how the lower black body and chrome side protector indexes nicely with the exhausts and the use of a fascinating asymmetric free-flowing texture within the main grille. The hexagonal grille shape itself is an evolution of the style introduced on the 2006 Genus concept car and the 2007 HED-4 Qarmaq. Like this latter car, Hyundai have collaborated with SABIC Innovative Plastics to use their "Exatec- glazing" to incorporate extra features into the rear glass. For example, a U-shaped depression surrounds the wiper and the third stoplight is incorporated in the upper part of the rear window. Like the exterior, the interior is close to production intent, with crème white leather trimming and illuminated ice blue accents.

The ix-onic is an excellent demonstration of how far Hyundai design has improved in the past five years and it was interesting to note how close the showcar displayed at Geneva will be to production: apart from the 21-inch polished aluminum wheels we'd expect the main elements of this design to remain intact.

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Hyundai HED-4 Qarmaq concept - Geneva 2007

The Duster is the first concept to come from the revived Dacia brand, owned by Renault, and was designed as a collaborative effort between Renault's central European design base in Bucharest, Romania and Renault Design Technocentre in Paris, where the model was built. This crossover design aims to showcase the brand's core values - namely simplicity, robustness and authenticity - in a ‘surprising' form and the result was a nice addition to a Geneva show where genuine concept cars were in pretty short supply this year.

The Duster has a distinctive stance to it, with a short, stubby hood, big white 21-inch wheels, a very raked wrap-around windscreen and a long 2804mm wheelbase and the combination gives an appealing Tonka-toy character to the car. The design features a number of interesting ideas such as an asymmetric door layout, floating rear quarter panel and new seat stowage arrangements.

The rear is the most notable view of the car. The vertical rear window has an engraved Dacia logo and is framed by arrow-shaped taillamps with a triangular hole within them. The idea is that air flows freely along the vehicle's flanks before being jettisoned through these rear lights and the aerodynamic, wing-like forms of the roof-mounted direction indicators also channel airflow towards the rear. The overall impression reminds one of the recent Renault Ondelios concept seen at Paris Show, although the Duster adopts much more orthodox volumes and graphics than the larger Renault.

Complimenting the anthracite gray exterior is a cabin finished in two-tone chocolate and blue. The interior features a deeply bucketed driver's seat pad that curls up into the wraparound console surface allowing the passenger seat to slide underneath it on rails concealed in the floor. Thanks to a recess in the floor and a strap located under the dashboard, this space can be used to carry a trials mountain bike.