Hyundai Develops Soapbox Ride

Hyundai Motor has designed the Hyundai Soapbox ride which parents can build together with their children and groups of friends can create. The soapbox was developed by engineers and designers from the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center (HMETC) using affordable and easily-available materials. 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 which 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.

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The Hyundai Soapbox is a motor-less vehicle designed by Hyundai experts

Andreas Christoph-Hofmann, Vice President of Marketing & Product at Hyundai Motor Europe, “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.”

The Hyundai Soapbox was designed just like a regular car. First, a team of engineers built the chassis. Then, a team of designers sketched ideas, first on paper and then as 3D computer models. They came up with different designs, chose one, and started building. Lastly, another team worked on colour and trim. During the building process, the body design team realised that their original design was not very feasible for people to re-create. It involved double-curved surfaces that would have been difficult to replicate using regular tools and regular building materials. So they went back to the drawing board.

The development team wanted the soapbox ride being simple yet demonstrating advanced thinking

When looking to other Hyundai models for inspiration, the 45 concept stood out for its straight lines and geometric shapes. The development team wanted the soapbox ride being simple yet demonstrating advanced thinking. So instead of using a conventional steering wheel they adapted the joystick steering concept from Prophecy show car. However, to allow homemade build, the joysticks were made of purchased screwdrivers.

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When fully assembled, the Hyundai Soapbox is 1 meter wide and 1,76m long. It was important that the soapbox could fit into a regular passenger car, so that families could transport it to different locations as they look for hills to roll it down. The final soapbox design fits into an i30 Wagon.