Tokyo, Japan

Hyundai Motor Europe has developed a Hyundai Soapbox ride that families and friends can build together.

The soapbox was designed and engineered by Hyundai Europe Design Center using affordable materials that are easily available at a standard DIY store. Its design was inspired by the 45 concept car, simplified to be easy to replicate at home.

The soapbox was developed by engineers and designers from the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center (HMETC) using affordable and easily-available materials. Intended to promote quality time for customers, families and friends.

With schools still closed in parts of Europe during the COVID crisis, and families spending more time together, Hyundai recognised the importance of spending quality time with one’s family and wanted to come up with a project that would be fun for parents and children alike. As a mobility provider, this naturally involved something related to cars – and thus the idea of the Hyundai Soapbox was born.

“In recent months, spending time together as a family has become more valuable to people. We wanted to create a fun project that would give families and friends an enjoyable project that brings them together. Of course, the Hyundai Soapbox had to stay affordable, so our designers developed it using materials that can be easily found in a local DIY store,” states Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, Vice President of Marketing & Product at Hyundai Motor Europe.

The Hyundai soapbox is a motor-less vehicle designed by Hyundai experts that is nonetheless fairly easy to build. Designers and engineers at HMETC conceived the model in the company’s workshop, and built a prototype to ensure the feasibility of the design.

In order to keep it accessible, the HMETC team was careful to only use materials that were readily available at an average hardware store. They also paid attention to the total cost of materials to make sure the design stayed affordable.

The soapbox is made out of wood, metal rods, and connecting materials such as brackets and screws. The wheels are from a wheelbarrow. It has joysticks for steering and a simple mechanism for braking.

True to Hyundai’s commitment to eco-friendly mobility solutions, the Hyundai Soapbox is made primarily from environmentally-friendly materials such as wood and metal.

Though the soapbox is built for the size of a child, due to clever engineering, it can also carry an adult’s weight.

Customers can either push the soapbox up a hill or ride it down, or have two people push each other around in it – which is what the HMETC team did during testing.

“In the car industry, we get so used to thinking within certain boxes, but this time, the door was open. With this project, we were free to be creative and think outside the box,” states Thomas Bürkle, Head of Hyundai Europe Design Center.

“The 45’s concept language is a very easy-to-remember form. The graphics and shapes will stay in your memory. In this way, we thought it was a good fit for the soapbox, because we want children to grow up and remember building the soapbox together with their parents.”

Designers: Thomas Bürkle and Hyundai Design Team Europe
Manufacturer: Hyundai Europe Motor Company