One of the biggest evolutions of the car concept was getting divided into categories. This allowed the vehicles to serve each time more customers, because they stopped being simple transportation tools and joined that to performing several other practical applications. The number of categories has only grown through the decades, which results in today’s cars being capable each one of focusing on some specific tasks very well, although it’s impossible not to leave others behind. This article’s car is one of the latest examples of that.
An automaker frequently needs to offer more than one single vehicle because each one actually reproduces the small-blanket problem: either you cover your neck or your feet. Translating to car language, a VW Golf GTI would travel on a quagmire as badly as a Ford F-250 would be driven at a parking building. Those come from the fact that the first one is dedicated to the performance, while the second was projected to take big cargo through farms and highways. What SsangYong had in mind as an opportunity to take with Rodius, therefore, was to provide bigger families’ transportation. Not to reach 200 mph, not to fit two of them in a conventional parking spot and not to climb mountains, but also not to the commercial use – that’s when all the fuss starts. The Koreans wanted a large family car which wouldn’t resemble a cargo van, such as Fiat Ducato and Renault Master which, in turn, have passenger and cargo versions with the same exterior. So besides avoiding the closed-window settings, this idea also included a much more creative styling, to get it visually closer to the urban cars. Rodius came in 2004 with a very interesting proposal of comfort and huge space for a family, not companies, but there was only one obstacle to its commercial success. Also sold as Korando Turismo and Stavic, this car’s looks was undeniably unique, and also distant from the vans… but in a way that takes only one photo to explain why it has never prospered.
Nevertheless, SsangYong didn’t give up. Bigger cars like this usually have longer lifecycles than sedans or wagons, so Rodius now prepares to turn nine years old receiving its very first facelift – it’s hard to believe that so many changes were made on the same project, indeed, but keeping the doors almost untouched makes it easier. Looking at this new phase leads to think that the intention was to make the car look imponent, rather than futuristic as before. That would explain the much more modern front fascia, with straight lines and solid volumes just like the rear one, composing some sort of SUV-inspirated style. What is really hard to understand is the contradiction created around the car’s back half. If the intention was transforming Rodius into an SUV, these cars naturally have much shorter rears. On the other side, cars which take eleven (!) passengers could really use the benefits of a full van, like bigger windows and sliding doors, but this one ended up trying to hide this family side with this new design and obviously fails, resulting at a really strange car once again. Much better than the previous one, though, but still weird, like an excessively stretched new Chevrolet Trailblazer. But once everyone finds out how to enter throught those small doors, the 10-feet wheelbase brings space for people and their baggage. It’ll use a turbocharged diesel 2.0L with 150 hp and a V6 3.2L with gasoline, paired to a six-speed manual transmission or five-speed automatic and available all-wheel-drive.
