SPYSHOTS: Hyundai 45 seen with less camouflage

The Hyundai 45 electric crossover has been spotted running road tests once again, here seen in warmer surroundings in Germany after being sighted running cold-weather tests back in February. Its bodywork can now be seen more clearly too, with less camouflage attached.

As a road-going development of the 45 EV Concept shown at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the 45 test vehicle here wears a productionised body, featuring more regular items such as conventional mirrors and headlamps of a more normal layout instead of the ‘kinetic cube lamp’ design on the concept.

According to an AutoDaum report as sighted by Korean Car Blog, the production 45 EV will in fact employ cameras to replace the conventional mirrors. This will be Hyundai’s first production model based on its dedicated EV platform dubbed e-GMP, and will thus be different from the architecture that underpins the Kona Electric and the Ioniq, said the report.

The all-new EV model will reportedly measure 4,635 mm long, 1,890 mm wide and 1,605 mm tall, somewhat comparable to the Kona which measures 1,565 mm in height. According to the report, wheelbase for the production 45 is a whopping 3,000 mm, or 100 mm longer than that of the eight-seater Palisade. Sounds far fetched, but we’ll know for sure when the car debuts.

The 45 EV Concept name alludes to angles cut at a 45-degree angle for its exterior surfaces; on the slightly less disguised development unit seen here, the angles appear slightly less accentuated than those on the concept car, though certain cues such as the ‘Z’ crease lines across its front and rear doors remain.

This development car also shows a C-pillar that largely carries over the concept’s design of tapering to become narrower towards the roof, and the tailgate wears a spoiler that is more enclosed at the ends. As at the front end, the rear of the development vehicle will feature conventional tail lamp housings, though the currently exposed light units will only show their final exterior design later on.

Further downwards, the rear bumper appears to get a more conventional design when viewed straight-on, though a side profile view reveals a similarly tight rear overhang. Rolling stock on this 45 test mule is much closer in design to the concept, even compared to the geometric design set seen on the previous test mule.

The fully electric powertrain is expected to come from Hyundai’s most advanced offering that is in the Kona Electric, which produces 204 hp and 395 Nm of torque from an electric motor fed by a 64 kWh lithium-ion battery pack; this offers 482 km of range in the battery-powered Kona.

According to Korean Car Blog, an ‘ultra-fast charging station’ will give 80% charge in 15 minutes, though charging protocol details were not mentioned. The website also mentions a European debut around January 2021, with the manufacturer’s domestic Korean market following suit in March. After that, it is slated for a United States debut in July 2021.