150402_RM15 Concept_1

You're looking at the Hyundai RM15 Concept, a WRC-inspired lightweight, carbon-fibre-bodied, mid-engined and rear wheel drive two-seat design study. No, this isn't a late April Fools story. Seriously, this is all legit!

Making its debut at the 2015 Seoul Motor Show, the RM15 (as in Racing Midship 2015, not 15 Ringgit) is meant as a showcase of Hyundai's "passion for performance and its expertise in the development of advanced vehicle technologies." Why it looks so much like the standard Veloster, we have no idea.

Hyundai RM15 concept 01

The RM15's carbon-fibre body makes it 195 kg lighter than a standard all-steel structure. A Theta 2.0 litre T-GDI engine mounted just ahead of the rear axle, sending 295 hp and 383 Nm of torque to the 19-inch rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. So it's quite fast, obviously, getting from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds.

To handle the extra grunt, the RM15 is equipped with a WRC-inspired roll-cage which, together with the aluminium core structure and carbon-fibre body panels, makes it extremely rigid. It's claimed to have a torsional stiffness of 37,800 Nm/deg. The McLaren F1's chassis, for instance, measures in at just 13,500 Nm/deg. Impressed yet?