Could This Be The First Brewings Of A Future Gullwing’d iMAX?
A recent filing with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office have turned up an curious find: Hyundai seems to be rather intrigued by the idea of using gullwing doors for its MPVs.
These rear gullwings come with a difference, however, since they’re actually pursuing intellectual property rights over this specific implementation of it. Hyundai’s special doors are gullwings, yes, but they’re also able to slide out like every other people mover.
Gullwing doors have always captured the imagination, partly due to the fact that (a) they look futuristic and somewhat needlessly ostentatious, (b) they’ve been headlining features for some rather impressive cars over the decades: the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe, DeLorean DMC-12, and Tesla Model X.
This idea from Hyundai, to us, seems like a much better implementation of gullwing doors that would fit a wider swath of use cases, possibly without needing the complex array of sensors and numerous hydraulic actuators just to get let the rear passengers out like those on the Model X that, while very impressive, surely costs a bundle to manufacture.
In the case of Hyundai’s idea, if there’s not enough room for the gullwings to unfurl, just slide the other door out. Easy.
The patent filing does show an image of a very utilitarian people mover. There’s nothing stylish happening anywhere around here, but that might just be down to better illustrate the concept. Still, the Hyundai that it most resembles would be the iMAX, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this door design finds its way into something a little more mainstream or even luxurious.
Perhaps even a Kia Sedona within the next decade could come standard with gullwing doors. What do you make of Hyundai’s new patent filing – flash in the pan or something to watch out for?
