Hyundai's New Electric SUV Might Be A Retro Masterpiece

It's not common knowledge, but Hyundai built a proper off-roader known as the Galloper years ago. Based on the second-generation Mitsubishi Montero, the Galloper was ahead of its time. If Hyundai brought it back, what would it be? A render artist on Instagram thinks it would work beautifully as an EV.

The Galloper never made it to the USA, but it likely would have suffered the same fate it did in other countries. It was the most expensive Hyundai you could buy then, and the South Korean brand's reputation wasn't nearly as stellar in 1997 when the Galloper made its debut.

People were just starting to take notice of the brand but were far from ready to drop $50k on one. Stange, isn't it? Here we are 20 years later, and the 2023 Hyundai Palisade is easily one of the best cars in that segment.

Before the Palisade was launched, we expected it to be a hardcore ladder-frame Galloper replacement, but we're glad Hyundai went in a different direction.

Hyundai currently has no intention of going after the Land Cruiser market. Its primary focus is churning out great products at affordable prices and going electric. The EV6 will soon hit the market, but we're more interested in the Concept EV9, which will arrive in 2023.

Once again, Hyundai is going after the high-end SUV EV market. Not much is known about the car at this stage, but the Hyundai Group's Electric Global Modular Platform makes it easy to guestimate. We think it will be a dual-motor, AWD, 570-horsepower luxury barge aimed squarely at the Rivian R1S, Mercedes EQE SUV, and BMW iX.

Looking at the EV9 images, it's clear that Hyundai still needs to finalize the styling. There are some clear Palisade hints in there, but at the moment, it looks like the unfortunate result of sexual interaction between a Land Rover Defender and BMW's high-performance XM.

We like NY Mammoth's design, but it's clearly a blend of Defender and G-Class with a few modern Hyundai hints subtly worked in. That's not necessarily bad because all off-roaders looked the same back when segments were more clearly defined. If you look at the original images of the Galloper on this page, it's pretty evident where the inspiration comes from.