Rockstar Energy Moab Extreme Off-Roader Santa Fe Sport Concept Has Way Too Long a Name
Hyundai and Rockstar are hoping to energize the off-road enthusiast crowd at SEMA with this extreme crossover concept.
When you think of a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport crossover, you’re more likely to think of a mom loading up her kids in a mall parking lot rather than rock climbing at Moab, and you wouldn’t be wrong to think that way. However, Hyundai wants to win over the hearts of off-road nuts at SEMA with this concept called the Rockstar Energy Moab Extreme Off-Roader Santa Fe Sport Concept.
This ridiculously named concept is covered in black and grey camouflage, presumably to mask the fact that what we’re looking at is a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport which is not exactly an off-roader in stock form. The camo is broken up by “Hyundai” graphics on the sides and large Rockstar logos on the rear quarters. Multiple LED light bars are added which seem to have become requirements for custom off-road vehicles.
To be fair, this isn’t just for show and it does have several mechanical modifications that could make it a respectable off-roader. Mods include King coil-over suspension, Magnaflow exhaust, R1 Concepts brakes, a Nitrous Express wet nitrous system, and KMC XD Series Machete wheels with massive Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ off-road tires.
Yes, it’s possible for unibody, all-wheel drive crossovers to have real off-road chops, especially when properly modified, but there’s just something off about this Hyundai. Hyundai doesn’t have any off-road heritage to speak of and even when the brand confirmed it was bringing a pickup truck to the U.S., it put no emphasis on its off-road capability. Something tells us four-door off-road royalty like the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and the Toyota 4Runner have nothing to worry about.
