SEMA 2013: Hyundai’s Booth Was All About The Widebodies

Sorry for the lack of posts on hump-day but I had a lot of catching up to do…which starts now!  Ok so while I was at SEMA for that blurry 24 hours I made it a point to visit the Hyundai booth.  Leading up to SEMA they teased more than a few pretty interesting builds from some folks I knew and some I didn’t.  While each build had a different theme and philosophy the one thing they all had in common was a widebody or at least wide stance and that’s always appealing to me.

The build I really wanted to check out up close was the “JP Edition” Hyundai Genesis coupe built by my buddy John Pangilinan.  His last few builds for Hyundai (including his Veloster) really put him on the map and has kind of made him the “go to” guy for Hyundai when it comes to custom builds.  Just like his Veloster, his new Genesis did not disappoint.  One of my favorite things about John’s builds is that when he goes widebody he does it with metal.  No fiberglass or composite for John! Metal gets put to fire and is painstakingly shaped onto the body.  By the way those flares were designed by the one and only Jon Sibal.  After the flares were all fab’d up and applied John had the Genesis sprayed with BASF “Atlantis Blue” paint which reminds me of a metallic teal of sorts.  Side and rear carbon fiber splitters from Seibon were bolted on to finish the look.  Everything really comes together and suits the bodylines nicely.  John also threw in a full car audio suite from Alpine with just about every component someone could want.  To further set off the interior John threw in two Recaro Cross sportster front seats but not before having them re-apholstered with leather from Katzskin.  Throw in some wide forged wheels from MORR and you have a coupe that will be coveted by the Hyundai forums for the lion’s share of 2014.

Next up was the Genesis Coupe “Legato” by ARK Performance.  “Legato” is a musical term meaning a seamless integration between notes which was essentially the theme of ARK’s build.  They wanted to integrate all of their tech into their car in a way that was unobtrusive to drivability.  I would have to say they pulled it off.  Despite its wild outward appearance (thanks to a one-off ARK widebody kit) the way that the details tie into each other is quite subtle and somewhat understated.  One look at the interior shows a rush bright lights and screens from all of their branded tech but keep looking and it appears as if everything they installed after the fact, was actually meant to be there from the beginning.  For performance ARK stroked out the 3.8 liter V6 engine to 4.0 liters thanks to a Brian Crower kit.  The rest of the performance increases comes from a full list of ARK products from the intake to the headers.  It all added up to 400hp and 425ft-lbs of torque.  Although despite all the performance, custom body work, and custom tech, I have to say my favorite thing about the ARK Legato Genesis coupe is the crazy “neo-chro” finish on the RAYS Engineering G25 wheels!

The last of the marquee Genesis builds came from Bisimoto Engineering owned by the legendary Bisi Ezerioha.  There isn’t too much to say here which is really a good thing.  Bisi did what anyone with his skill and talent would do: started with a crate engine, boosted the heck out of it with custom fabricated parts, shoehorned the engine back into a gutted car with roll cage, and then cut a giant hole in the front bumper to accommodate the massive air-to-air intercooler.  When all was said and done Bisi’s car made over 1,000 reliable, streetable horsepower.  Bisi plans to race the car and even drive it in city to city road rally events.

Finally we have the “Hylighter” Veloster build from the EGR Group.  Of the four main builds this is the only non-Genesis car as well as the only motorsport-only purpose built car.  The endgame of EGR’s Veloster is to be a competitive time-attack car that will be visible no matter how dark it might get on the track.  Hence the “yellow-cake uranium” inspired paint job and plethora of exterior lights.  The Veloster’s stance was augmented with wide fender flares produced by EGR themselves and filled with DPE 3 piece wheels.  Bisimoto helped EGR tune the motor after some breathing upgrades from AEM and Magnaflow were bolted on.  I like the way the whole package came together but it is a little too…radioactive for my tastes

There you have it! The best that Hyundai had to offer at the SEMA show.  I have a strong feeling that we are going to continue to see at least a few of these cars popping up at shows frequently in 2014 so if you couldn’t make it out to SEMA this year there is still a very good chance you will be able to see some of these cars up close next year.

Stay tuned for more SEMA coverage!