Hyundai has filed a patent for a new door system for recreational vehicles (RV) which includes a sliding door attached on top of a gullwing.
This gullwing design sits on the side of the RV and the company is expecting that the new design will appeal the camping market.
For regular usage, the sliding door can be used. But when camping or going for a long drive, the gullwing door can be used.
The company said that the new design would be convenient for passengers in the second and third row in entering and exiting the vehicle with ease.
It would also be easy to put in some extra luggage without crawling in the first place.
The only drawback of this design is that the gullwing can only be used when there is ample space around the vehicle. It would not be practical to open the gullwing when the vehicle is struck in traffic.
Some experts believe that this door design is a cross-over between Volkswagen's Camper Van and Tesla's Model X SUV.
But, Hyundai says that it was inspired by the wing body of a truck, where one can get greater access to the cargo area and rear seats.
The South Korean auto manufacturer said in the patent application: "For recent 2 to 3 years, camping population has rapidly increased, reaching numbers of one million people and a market scale of camping goods has increased correspondingly."
"Camping has evolved from a level of just sleeping outdoors to include a step of taking a rest outdoors and therefore, camping equipment has also continuously evolved," the company added.
The company believes that as there is a varied range of camping equipment available, it becomes necessary to have a vehicle where much of camping equipment can easily transported.
Image: Hyundai iMax van. Photo: Courtesy of OSX/Wikipedia
