Hyundai’s Boulder SUV has been revealed in a new patent filing image that offers big clues about how the hardcore 4WD could look in production form. First unveiled as a concept car in April, the body-on-frame model should eventually take on competitors like the Toyota LandCruiser and Land Rover Defender.

The shot comes from a filing that was made to India’s Intellectual Property Office in May, and it shows a detailed rendering of the exterior of the vehicle. In terms of styling, it’s quite close to the concept with very boxy looks that echo the recently unveiled 2027 Tucson SUV.

Silver-gray off-road SUV with oversized tires and a roof rack, viewed from the front-left corner.
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Unlike the concept, however, the rendering shows the Boulder with a roof rack that has straps running down to the bonnet. It also features heavy slabbed sides with boxy wheel arches and a dramatic treatment for the headlights. 

As you’d expect from a no-nonsense off-roader, the Boulder gets meaty tyres and elevated suspension. The grille is set low but the light bar on the roof rack in the concept version appears to have been dropped.

The overall feeling you get from the render is that Hyundai hasn’t really diluted the rugged looks of the concept as it heads towards production. The company’s new Art of Steel design language is shining through again, as it did with the upcoming Tucson.

Hyundai’s body-on-frame line-up plans haven’t been fully announced but a pickup using the body-on-frame platform will be built by 2030, with the SUV to follow. That means there’s a good chance the front end of the pickup will look similar to what’s been revealed in the freshly surfaced render. The luxury Genesis brand could also use the platform in an off-road model.

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While the new image doesn’t hold any clues about the inside of the Boulder, the concept’s interior featured a minimalist approach. It dropped a traditional instrument cluster in favour of a series of small digital displays placed centrally on the dashboard, with physical controls for functions like differential locks, low-range gearing and four-wheel drive settings in another sign of its serious off-road intent.

There’s been no word on confirmation for markets like Australia, but the huge popularity of off-roaders and utes down under means the Boulder and the pickup should be a good chance of making it into our showrooms.