Hyundai's North American design team unveiled the HCD II ‘New Vision Utility' (NUVIS) concept at the New York Auto Show to showcase the Korean automaker's proprietary Blue Drive technology. The packaging allows for a great deal of design freedom and is seen as a ‘bold departure' for the Hyundai team.

Created from an original design theme by Arash Badeanlou, the main inspiration for the Nuvis was one of earth's natural elements: wind. Badeanlou worked with senior exterior designer Andre Hudson under the direction of design manager John Krsteski to develop the theme, resulting in a vehicle that blends elements of a ‘tall urban car' and those of a premium vehicle.

The design, adorned with Hyundai's bold new grille treatment and stretched headlamps at the front, leads to a series of flowing and twisting character lines along the bodyside, accentuating the dynamic theme. One of the more interesting elements is the floating roofline above the large gullwing door, which integrates the taillamp graphics into the backlight, complete with LED elements flowing naturally into the shoulder off the rear quarter. According to Krsteski, the goal was for the design to feel connected from any angle. 

Inside, the four-seat interior (originally penned by Krsteski and further refined by former Mercedes designer Andrew Moir) features a series of curves, accentuated by the flowing floor with cascading light. Technology has also been neatly integrated. Devoid of mechanical controls, users operate the HVAC and audio systems via a seamless touch user interface. The 100 per cent recyclable seats - created by color & trim designer Amy Fremin - include a woven gradation conceived to "flow like a river".   

As the last concept created under Joel Piaskowski (former GM designer Phil Zak has now been formally enrolled as head of the automaker's California studio), the Nuvis bears certain familiar elements from the Blue-Will concept unveiled in Seoul, Korea last week. But ultimately it is not as successful as other crossover concepts revealed by Hyundai in recent years.

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Following the international debut of the Kia Forte in Chicago a couple of months ago is the debut in New York of the coupe variant. The exteriors of both cars were designed in California by Kurt Kahl under Chief Designer Tom Kearns. Kahl told us how despite such close debuts, the design process for the coupe didn't start until the sedan program was well progressed.

The Koup concept shown a year ago in New York previewed the Forte, which is clearly gunning for the Scion xC and Honda Civic Coupe. It carries over the same hood and front lights as the Forte sedan, but every other exterior surface is unique to the coupe. The rear is where the biggest differences to the sedan are visible, with a large non-functional diffuser in dark gray plastic jutting out and incorporating the twin exhaust outlet. Changes at the front revolve around larger lower air intakes and a grille that are blacked out, making the unique Kia indents at the top and bottom of the grille aperture difficult to see.

The theme of both coupe and sedan is very clean and contemporary, although there are echoes of the Honda in its DRG and Scion in its profile. The single most distinctive design element is the bodyside feature line, which kicks up below the front side window and runs into, and up, the A-pillar. It is then picked up again above the front wheelarch before running forwards.

Inside, the coupe and sedan are largely identical. It is handsome and there is little to offend, but ultimately the Forte's interior is less clean and contemporary than its exterior, or indeed the interiors of its already well-established competitors.

Both sedan and coupe impressed the designers we spoke to at New York. They may not redefine the parameters of the North American small coupe and sedan sectors, but they do bring Kia right up to the front of the pack.

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The PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) is an early prototype of a new vehicle that Segway is developing in partnership with GM. While it's rare to see concepts unveiled at this early stage - the PUMA was created in just 90 days - it was felt that media attention and the ensuing public and political support is necessary to develop the legislation (it cannot legally drive on roads or pavements yet) and infrastructure prior to committing to the development of a production version.

As an intriguing novelty and proof of concept the PUMA succeeds. The conceptual design uses the existing 'lean forwards to go forwards, lean backwards to go backwards' propulsion system of the classic Segway Personal Transporter. But with the two occupants sitting down, the shifting of weight forwards or backwards is achieved by sliding the small cabin forwards or backwards on rails relative to the floor and chassis. When in the vehicle, your seat moves relative to where your feet are - a sensation that pleasantly connects both driver and passenger to the vehicle's movement.

This Segway also impressed with its turn-on-the-spot manoeuvrability, inherently smooth and intuitive movement (not dissimilar to a helicopter), and in the potential for a chain of these drive-by-wire vehicles to run autonomously. Its lack of deceleration for a 35mph vehicle might pose a problem though; we asked for a demonstration of maximum deceleration during our ride and it felt to be about half that of a car under emergency braking. If it were travelling down a hill this problem would be significantly more acute - the center of gravity must be lowered and or the degree of cabin sliding backwards relative to the chassis increased. 

We saw Segways incorporated into the Opel Fextreme concept, and now GM is set to contribute to this Segway in providing the autonomous control aspect of development and the body design. And while a production PUMA is a very long way off, we expect to see a more complete design concept with a body designed by GM later this year.

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