I always avoid seeing movie trailers. I arrive with just enough time to park myself in the seat and watch the film I’ve come to see, which generally means about 15 minutes after the scheduled time. Why? Because, more often than not, movie trailers give away all of the interesting elements of the story.
On the flip side of the coin, it must also be said that I’m generally not a fan of teasers issued by automakers either, albeit for a different reason. Usually they serve little purpose other than to tell you ‘it’s coming’. Sometimes that’s the only thing written on the press release to accompany a silhouette or a half-covered image of a car under a sheet. All these do is leave you wondering ‘What the hell have I just seen?’.
Regrettably, in the age of the Internet, there are a lot of companies choosing to drip feed information of a forthcoming product launch in this manner. Fortunately for Hyundai, which released a teaser video claimed to offer the ‘first hints about the design of the upcoming all-new Tucson’ compact SUV, they’ve managed to include some actual production value.
As you might expect, Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer of Hyundai Motor Group (which includes Kia), takes the lead in the video, appearing to pen a sketch of the vehicle we’ll see make its debut at the Geneva motor show next month.
“[The new Tucson is] a big step forward for the Hyundai brand globally,” says Schreyer, as the camera focuses on him sketching the new car and working in various mediums. “We find flowing surfaces, bold proportions, sharp lines and – most important – our newest generation hexagonal grille, our brand signature.”
As Schreyer begins to flesh out the sketch, the camera cruises by a modeler working on a clay model in the background and provides a glimpse of the Color & Trim team and a mood board on which they’ve hung inspirational imagery. We also see Chief Designer Thomas Bürkle, head of the European design center — where, presumably, the new car was created — make a cameo.
For once, it appears that a teaser has provided some value, some interesting visual elements of a design story that we’re unlikely to see until the car’s made it’s official debut in Geneva and the company issues a ‘making of’ video using similarly staged footage. Unlike movie trailers, this video has piqued my interest and desire to see the car in person. And with more than one million SUV sales in Europe since the introduction of the first Santa Fe in the early 2000s, I don’t think I’m the only one.
