Hyundai brings back the original Grandeur sedan as electric restomod

Aside from production cars and concepts, Hyundai has recently established a third line of vehicles as part of its Heritage Series. It brings back to life some of the automaker’s greatest hits, and after seeing a modern take on the Pony earlier this year, the South Korean brand is reviving its original flagship car – the Grandeur.

The executive sedan launched in 1986 returns as a one-off for 2021 with all-electric propulsion, and while details about the EV setup have not been released, the Grandeur is still quite interesting. Celebrating the 35^th anniversary of the large sedan, the zero-emissions restomod adopt the pixel theme for the headlights and taillights in the same vein as the Ioniq 5 and the forthcoming SEVEN concept.

The restomod is not just about yanking out the combustion engine and putting modern headlights as the changes continue inside. The unique Grandeur gets a minimalist cabin with cozy ambient lighting and avant-garde trim, accompanied by fancy controls and side-by-side screens akin to the Ioniq 5. The lower section of the center console incorporates a third display, and there’s a fourth one embedded into the retro-styled steering wheel.

The red seats with integrated headrests are a lovely touch and we are also fond of how Hyundai created a wide storage area in the dashboard. However, that wouldn’t be possible on a production model since some of the space would have to be reserved for the mandatory airbag on the passenger side. The restomod’s general idea is of “less is more” by incorporating most of the functions into the dual touchscreens to reduce most of the clutter.

Much like it’s the case with the Pony featured above, there are no plans to put the Grandeur in production. It would be virtually impossible to make a car launched more than three decades ago comply with current safety regulations. The first-gen Grandeur was actually not a Hyundai since it was essentially a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair, specifically the second-gen model launched in 1986.

Source: Hyundai