When the latest Hyundai i30 / Elantra Sport was revealed at the Paris Auto Show in the fall of 2016, I was more than a little bit disappointed. After all, the previous generation marked a big improvement over what came before, bringing a confident, dynamic style that made it one of the most attractive hatchbacks on the market. The latest model goes for a completely different look, trying to be sophisticated and solid-looking in a bid to emulate the VW Golf’s appeal, but to these eyes at least it falls quite short of achieving that. That said, even I have to admit that from the rear the car is rather attractive, in that it reminds me of one of my favorite designs, even if the similarity is more in concept than the detailed execution.
Namely, the rear of the Hyundai reminds me of the VW Scirocco. “What? They look nothing alike!” I already hear many of you say, but to me the two cars share a main feature that makes their rear designs rather attractive: a high-set horizontal line that makes the lower bumper look really prominent, complete with a low-set license plate, while the hatch cover looks short and wide, allowing for a prominent placement of the company logo; and then there is the similarly-angled, short and wide rear window adorned with an integrated spoiler. This is certainly not a case of Hyundai copying anything per se, but I think this is the one area of the car where the designers really did a good job on the i30.
