Not many people remember this, but besides the Fiat Multipla and the Pontiac Aztek, there was another really ugly car in that era. We're talking about the SsangYong Actyon.
SsangYong has always been one of the lesser-known Korean car brands, even though it was established in the 1950s. It only sells about 100,000+ cars per year, most of which stay in the country.
The brand has always been interested in 4x4, and in 2005, it introduced something called the Actyon. Its name is an amalgam of "action" and "young," while its shape was controversial at the time.
Now, many say the Actyon copied the BMW X6, but Bavaria's sloped-roof Sports Activity Coupe only came out about two years after that. Top Gear loved to bash the Actyon and all its sister models for being ugly, but the guy who designed it may have inspired his fellow Koreans to be just as bold.
This is about the new GV80, which is unapologetic about looking different. It's the first SUV made by the Genesis luxury brand, though at least two more 4x4s will follow.
We'd be happy if somebody said: "look, Korea made some of the first SUV coupes and they deserve to do it again." However, we'd be sad if it ended up looking like this rendering from Aksyonov Nikita.
There's something off about this, though most such transformations aren't to our liking anyway. The GLC Coupe is fine, but the GLE Coupe is still a bloated mess and BMW seems to have lost its mojo as well. What we want to see is bespoke bodywork for sports models, like Range Rover and Audi did. The roof doesn't have to look like it's been sat on by an elephant to be sporty. "Coupe" means to cut, and you can just cut all the pillars equally, have shorter windows and a nice spoiler at the back.
The brand has always been interested in 4x4, and in 2005, it introduced something called the Actyon. Its name is an amalgam of "action" and "young," while its shape was controversial at the time.
Now, many say the Actyon copied the BMW X6, but Bavaria's sloped-roof Sports Activity Coupe only came out about two years after that. Top Gear loved to bash the Actyon and all its sister models for being ugly, but the guy who designed it may have inspired his fellow Koreans to be just as bold.
This is about the new GV80, which is unapologetic about looking different. It's the first SUV made by the Genesis luxury brand, though at least two more 4x4s will follow.
We'd be happy if somebody said: "look, Korea made some of the first SUV coupes and they deserve to do it again." However, we'd be sad if it ended up looking like this rendering from Aksyonov Nikita.
There's something off about this, though most such transformations aren't to our liking anyway. The GLC Coupe is fine, but the GLE Coupe is still a bloated mess and BMW seems to have lost its mojo as well. What we want to see is bespoke bodywork for sports models, like Range Rover and Audi did. The roof doesn't have to look like it's been sat on by an elephant to be sporty. "Coupe" means to cut, and you can just cut all the pillars equally, have shorter windows and a nice spoiler at the back.