Ahead of the New York International Auto Show, Hyundai's luxury brand has unveiled a new compact concept called the Mint. Appropriately in green, the all-electric Genesis Mint Concept is a lightweight, compact two-door, two-seater designed for upper-crust city drivers.
A vented matrix that Genesis calls the "G-Matrix" pattern dominates the very lowest portion of the car, encircling the bottom of the Mint like a lower body halo, and directs airflow to the batteries underneath the vehicle's floor. This helps cool them while leaving the rest of the Mint Concept's bodywork smooth and curvy. This pattern is echoed in the Mint's wheels and as a design element on the interior.
The smooth bodywork and simplistic overall exterior design of the Mint Concept are interesting, evoking a kind of callback to compact coupes and buggies of an earlier time. The interior of the Mint, however, is very different.
Inside, the G-Matrix pattern is seen as dark lines running through a light brown base, with the center console able to be folded down to turn the front bench seat into a settee. There's a squared steering wheel and round pedals – although the car is battery electric, there are three pedals instead of two. Genesis does not explain why. Other elements inside the Mint include copper-colored graphical user interfaces and a large tablet-like screen inset into the steering wheel.
Behind the seating is a sort of cargo shelf behind and above the rear seats, with the interior's mesh pattern becoming literal mesh, ostensibly to strap the cargo in place. Access to the Mint Concept's cargo area is through two reverse butterfly hatches, which open up and out to the rear of the car.
Genesis says that the Mint Concept is made to get about 200 miles (322 km) of range per charge and can use 350-kW fast charging.
Source: Genesis
