SEMA-Bound Hyundai Veloster Grappler Off-Road Concept Is Our Kind of Hot Hatch
You might not need a compact car with knobby tires and ultra-bright trail lighting—but it’s okay to want one.
SEMA 2019 is just weeks away, which means we're about to see the most over-the-top modified vehicles imaginable—this includes a wild concept from Hyundai, which has revealed an off-roadable version of its Veloster hatchback called the Grappler.
Like most SEMA builds, the Veloster Grappler is really just an exercise in extreme customization, assembled from a lengthy list of brand-name parts. Hyundai fitted the Grappler with an in-house custom lift and brush guards, but everything else is from a big-name third party. Chunky all-terrain tires enclose Method Racing alloy wheels, a full-size spare of which can be mounted either inside the car on the integral roll bar behind the houndstooth-finished Recaro seats or in the Thule roof basket.
Said basket features a removable Goal Zero solar panel, which provides juice to a cargo area-mounted power station for charging radios, electric power tools, or any other implements useful in nature, like the supplemental Baja Designs lighting. Extra lighting is always good for preventing instances of roadkill (which you wouldn't want coming up and damaging the vented Seibon carbon fiber hood), but the odds of you seeing any wildlife at all in the Grappler are nil, as its Borla cat-back exhaust could scare off a bull moose.
Hyundai will showcase the rough-riding Veloster Grappler at its SEMA 2019 booth starting Tuesday, Nov. 5. Odds are this isn't the only vehicle Hyundai has prepared for the show, so keep an eye on The Drive for the rest of SEMA's best... and worst.
