Geneva: Hyundai's Flowing Edge Concept: Curvaceous compact SUV

Hyundai must have tasked its designers "no straight lines" when they drew the ix-onic compact 4X4 SUV concept introduced this week at the Geneva Motor Show.

The team made a statement. This car looks quite purposeful from a distance but with no jarring elements – a blended integration of complex curves and edges. The overall sculpted appearance is carried down to the smallest details - the connected irregularity of the honeycomb lower front grille opening, the swoosh of the exterior lighting portals set off by mirrored edges and indentions, the helix inspired road wheels. Even the brilliant exterior paint comes from the skunk works.

Equal attention was given the interior without going over the top. The most striking features are sumptuous white leather and blue instrument and accent lighting.

The ix-onic features a further development of the marque’s rounded hexagonal front grille treatment with the lower half repeated in the rear. Behind the front grille, Hyundai chose an eco-friendly powerplant - the new 1.6-liter GDi turbocharged four.

The company is very close to a marketable product in this jewel of a concept.