Hyundai goes camping with expanding mini-motorhome Imprimare
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Vineri, 16 Octombrie 2020 12:37

                     A bit more rounded around the edges than other motorhomes, the Hyundai Porest has a clean look

     Hyundai's badge does appear on the occasional camper van, but it is far from the first automotive brand one might associate with campers. The Korean automaker does in fact offer a small motorhome lineup of its own, though, designed around the needs of the growing RV market in its home country. The Porest is the latest addition to the Hyundai camper car family, looking something like a mono-shelled electric shuttle bus of the future while offering an expanding home-on-the-road with three beds, a bathroom, a kitchen and smart home-style control.

     With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting other forms of travel and recreation, the already-popular activity of camping has experienced accelerated growth in South Korea, much like it has in the Western world. Even before the pandemic, Korean camping enthusiasts were pushing beyond tent and towable camping, increasingly shopping for motorized campers, often referred to in the country as "camping cars," much like in Japan. Last year, Hyundai noted that camping car registrations exploded from a mere 346 in 2007 to 9,231 by 2018.

 

 

 

So why would Korea's largest automaker sit idly by and watch other foreign and domestic brands gobble all that action up? Hyundai already has its hands in the market with the Grand Starex camper van, launched in 2013 (new-2018+ version pictured above), and this year it adds the Porest compact motorhome for consumers looking for more space at vehicular base camp.

That name. "Porest" doesn't exactly present favorably when spoken in English, but in this case, it's a portmanteau of "Porter" and "rest," the Porter II truck being the base vehicle of the design. So it has nothing to do with a poor man's budget RV.

Beyond sleeping people on three different beds, the Porest does everything else a motorhome should do. Behind the dinette on the driver's side is a tall, thin kitchen block that houses the usual sink, worktop and standing-height fridge. A difference here is that instead of a stove, a microwave stands in for indoor cooking. Our first thought is that we'd rather see a traditional stove, but Porest dwellers can always cook outside with a portable stove or grill, so no big loss (unless the weather is terrible and the optional awning stuck).

The optional compact wet bathroom houses the usual shower, sink with foldaway basin, toilet and mirror. From what we've read about Korean campsites, restrooms are usually readily available, so that might be why the bathroom is optional, not standard. 

 

 

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--   Source: Hyundai