Giugiaro Kangaroo ‘hyper-SUV’ concept revealed: 2019 Geneva Motor Show

This is the Giugiaro Kangaroo, a running prototype revealed at Geneva that really focuses on the ‘sport’ part of its ‘SUV’ tag.

Yep, that’s right. Its creators, Italian style house GFG (as in Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro), actually call it an ‘SUV’. Hence the name Kangaroo, that it says comes from the fact it built a car that “springs into action, from one terrain to another”.

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Although it looks like something that would be nervous to approach a speed hump, it has the ability to raise ride height by as much as 120mm. Overall, that varies its height from 140mm, in Racing mode, to 260mm in Off-Road mode. Yep, it has an Off-road mode.

Boosting its all-terrain ‘abilities’ is a radical new suspension system that relies on active hydraulics and three-way shock absorber that decouples the two springs found on the shock absorber, so it can engage one or two for a wide range of stiffness levels.

Since it’s a working prototype there’s a lot of detail on its specification. It wraps a carbon fibre body around an aluminium spaceframe, stretching to 4600mm in total and two metres wide. At its tallest, on 22-inch wheels with 285/45 Pirelli Scorpion tyres, it is 1410mm high.

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Traction comes from two 180kW electric motors that are claimed to help it reach 100km/h in 3.8sec and top out over 250km/h. That’s pretty quick. A 90kWh battery promises 450km of range, but we’d be hesitant to test that in the wilderness without a solar charger.

It’s also fitted with a four-wheel steering system to help it turn within small circles and if you come across a few stones, or an incline, its splitter retracts to leave a ramp angle of 26 degrees.

There are only two seats inside, unfortunately, so wherever you’re going we wouldn’t plan on packing much. You’ll need to open the scissor doors and a gull-wing roof hatch to get in, and you’ll settle into carbon fibre buckets once inside.

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Inside is suitably futuristic and stylish, defined by a huge centre console pane and fine materials.

As to what GFG intends to do with such a concept, it’s not clear from the official press release. It’s built a clay model, a “tracked” version and this running prototype that it’s tested on the icy trails of Saint Moritz in Switzerland.

Either way, we’re a fan of this very, different skip.