Hyundai Boulder Concept Features That We Hope Will Survive

Being a concept, some of what appears on the Boulder won’t make it to production. Here are a few details we’d like to see carry over.

Hyundai is clearly taking aim at the Ford Bronco with the Boulder Concept it unveiled at the 2026 New York auto show, which is mainly meant to telegraph the No. 3 global automaker’s (No. 5 in the U.S.) intention to launch a new line of body-on-frame trucks to be designed and built in America, for America (and probably the Middle East and Africa if they ask nicely). Most of the details are unlikely to see the light of day—like the rear-hinged rear doors. Here are some we hope survive:

Two-Way Tailgate

Making the side-hinged rear door open from either side solves for the left-hand-drive/right-hand-drive market challenge, though we fret at what sort of hinge it would take to support that giant 37-inch spare. We’ve used enough center console lids that open from either side—none of which feels too robust—to worry about that. Still, it adds convenience and would serve as a unique selling proposition.

External Reservoir Shocks

For a concept, the Boulder has more suspension than we expected. The front is unequal-length control arms, the rear is a live axle (with trailing arms that are WAY too short to go toe-to-toe with a Raptor for suspension travel. But both ends have beautiful looking external reservoir shocks (and they’re coil-overs at both ends).

Aircraft Doors with Bonus Windows

Note that the side doors wrap up into the roof to include little bonus “Safari” windows. By wrapping up there that way, the roof is out of the way when standing on the door sill and accessing the luggage rack. Of course, bigger doors will be heavier if they’re made to come off (which they certainly are not in their current “coach door” form).

Modular Roof System

A video showed a naked roof panel with raised outer edges to which presumably different side rails could be attached to suit different purposes. Naturally, anything can be attached, but Hyundai hopes to capture the upfitting business by offering light bars, baskets, etc., to fit.

Longitudinal Hood Vents

Aligning perfectly with the indented section of the roof panel are front-to-rear hood vents. These may look difficult to form, but they’d be easily executed with a simple slot fitted with a plastic filler that also managed water drainage. And the longitudinal venting would be well suited to release heat from a turbocharger.

A Twin Turbo?

We reckon that the impetus to take on the Bronco Raptor might suggest power comes from a twin-turbo V-6 (or some form of its coming EREV powertrain), but enthusiasts can hope the Hyundai Group’s ambitions to take on the Germans with Genesis and the Bronco Raptor with this Boulder concept could help justify development of a new version a new twin-turbo V-8. That might force Jeep’s hand to try a Wrangler Hellcat…

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