Also the boot opening is wide. “A [saloon] has a trunk, an SUV has a tailgate space,” Lee explains. “That’s a lifestyle space, rather than cargo-carrying. So having a strong vertical line to emphasise the cargo area as much as possible, in combination with the shut face, it’s one of the widest tailgates. If you think about it, the shutline isn’t the width of the tailgate, because there are cars like the Audi Q7, which has a clamshell, but that doesn’t show you how wide the space is. That’s defined by the sill inside.”
The Santa Fe’s boot opening is almost 1300mm wide.
“It’s all about family. Every seat has two full-sized cupholders and every seat has a USB port,” Lee says.
On forecasting what cars will look like four or five years hence, when design starts, Lee says: “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, to be honest. This is why we use big data to identify trends. We have to forecast the future of mainstream trends as closely as possible, so we have a big data group internally and we use another externally.
“Both indicated towards the outdoor lifestyle, particularly during the pandemic. Your car becomes your private safe space. RVs [recreational vehicles] are so popular.
