Hyundai-Kia, BASF and Alten Korea develop circular EV3 concept seat

The Kia EV3 Study Car 2.0 seat extends a Hyundai Motor Group-BASF concept-car collaboration dating to 2010, but Hyundai-Kia, BASF and Alten Korea disclosed no production volume, investment amount or series-launch date. The partners have presented a design study rather than a production program.

The seating study brings together Hyundai-Kia, BASF and Alten Korea. Alten Korea, an engineering services company, developed the integrated seat design with the automaker and BASF, combining vehicle development, engineering, product design and advanced-materials expertise.

BASF serves as the materials partner, contributing material solutions in engineering plastics, polyurethanes (PU) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for consideration in the seat architecture. The announcement identifies no manufacturing plant, capacity target or production location for the project.

What does the Study Car 2.0 seat attempt to solve?

The companies describe the seat as a test of circular material solutions (material strategies intended to support later separation and recovery), design for disassembly (designing components for later separation) and end-of-life considerations within vehicle interiors. BASF’s material choices were considered to support easier dismantling and material sorting when the vehicle reaches the end of its life.

Jongkook Lee, Vice President at Hyundai Motor Group, said: “Study Car 2.0 gives us a practical environment in which to examine end-of-life considerations during vehicle and component development, rather than after the design has been completed. This seat project helps us assess how material selection, assembly methods and future dismantling requirements interact within a complex interior system.”

Lee framed the mechanism as early design intervention. By examining material selection, assembly and dismantling requirements together, the team can test whether separation decisions remain compatible with a seat’s structure and appearance.

Why does seat disassembly require system engineering?

Gwanghyun Kim, Executive Director at Alten Korea, said: “A seat is a tightly integrated system, so changing how its components are separated also affects its structure, assembly and appearance. We therefore approached the seat as a complete system, balancing structural, assembly and separation requirements within one integrated design.”

Alten Korea translated the partners’ material and disassembly objectives into one seat architecture. Its construction and assembly explore how components can facilitate future dismantling and sorting of different materials.

The material review also included polyamide (PA), placing it alongside PU and TPU for the interface study. Andy Postlethwaite, Senior Vice President at BASF Performance Materials Asia Pacific, said: “Automotive seats require different material classes to work together within a single system. This co-creation allows us to examine the interfaces among PA, PU and TPU materials, including how material decisions relate to component construction and separation at the vehicle’s end of life.”

What would turn the concept into a production program?

Study Car 2.0 continues a series of Hyundai Motor Group-BASF concept vehicles: the Hyundai i-flow in 2010, the Hyundai RN30 in 2016 and the Kia EV3 Study Car in 2024. Built on the Kia EV3 platform, the new study broadens the collaboration by applying end-of-life design across more vehicle materials and within the seat architecture.

The work remains a concept demonstration rather than a production program. The announcement gives no build volume, investment, capacity target, recycled-content percentage, material-recovery rate or series-production timing, so neither circular performance nor manufacturing economics can yet be verified.

The work resembles a factory teardown plan more than a recycling-volume campaign: engineers must define how components separate before recovered material streams can be measured. The seat study therefore tests design relationships, not a declared output target.

What to watch next is a production decision, supplier nomination, launch date, production-capacity milestone, measured dismantling time and verified recovery of separated materials. A policy decision governing vehicle end-of-life separation could also determine whether design for disassembly becomes standard practice. Until those data appear, the project establishes design intent rather than production performance.