Fortune favors the bold.
Fortune favors the bold, as they say, and this custom Hyundai Genesis Coupe from Cruizen By Design is proof positive of that. Spotted at Hot Import Nights Los Angeles earlier this year, this showstopper is dripping with bespoke details and creative touches, drawing inspiration from a desire to march to the beat of a different drum.
The Shop
The custom Hyundai Genesis belongs to shop founder Kiel Jones, who owns and operates Cruizen By Design out of Ontario, California. Jones is a lifelong auto builder and designer, originally attending the College for Creative Studies in Automotive Design in Michigan.
"I was a 15-year-old high school student studying in fine arts and sculpting when the [original] Fast and Furious came out and I was hooked," Jones tells Tuner Fan. "I wanted to combine all the things I loved about art into the automotive world and found automotive design for a career."
After 15 years in the automotive field, Jones founded Cruizen By Design, launching his own business right at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic - a bold move, to say the least.
"When the pandemic hit, our hours decreased and we started doing work out of my home garage. Once word spread that I had the skill to do a lot of different automotive jobs we started getting a lot of work on the side," Jones tells Tuner Fan. "My dream has always been to have my own full custom shop (not a mechanic or body shop) and when I was getting more work at home than I could handle and still work, my wife and I went over everything and said it was now or never and [I] decided to quit the job and start our own full company."
Now, Cruizen By Design takes on a variety of custom projects, but Jones' Hyundai Genesis stands out as one of the wilder builds we've ever seen.
The Build
This attention-grabbing show car started life as a 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track Edition, which Jones purchased in 2012. Interestingly, the Genesis was Jones' first new car, his first rear-wheel drive car, and his first manual car.
Through the first year and a half of ownership, Jones completely customized the coupe, but after attending his first big show, he was disappointed by the reaction it got. "I thought I was standing out, but many of the other Genesis builds looked very, very familiar," Jones tells Tuner Fan. "I am not one to go with the crowd at all!"
Jones ended up going back to the drawing board, and now, six years later, there's no question that the Cruizen By Design Hyundai Genesis is anything other than utterly unique.
It all starts with a Remake widebody kit, which was modified to fit the new Canament front bumper. The Canament bumper was also modified in order to make it fit the BK1-generation Hyundai Genesis, as the bumper was originally produced for the BK2 generation. A Seibon carbon fiber hood with custom plexiglass viewing ports and custom carbon fiber splitter complete the look up front.
The widebody was then studded with new custom vents and carbon fiber details, while the profile is highlighted further by carbon side skirts and a Lambo door kit. The rear of the Cruizen By Design Hyundai Genesis includes a carbon RK Sport rear diffuser, which was modified to fit the custom center exhaust treatment, plus new venting. The Hyundai Genesis also has a set of carbon fiber rear canards, a carbon-overlaid and shaved trunk, a carbon fiber Khartunerz rear spoiler, a carbon fiber gas cap, and a new roof spoiler.
The roof and front half of the Hyundai Genesis are finished in metallic black, while the profile and rear (including the taillights) are finished in blue. The headlights are recolored in black and copper, while an underglow kit and engine bay LED lighting kit shine at night.
The wheels are particularly noteworthy. In the corners we find Felgenwerks' forged aluminum three-piece No. 57s, which are customized with a candy-copper lip, barrel, and center cap. Wheel sizing is set at 20 inches by 10.5 inches and 20 inches by 13 inches, wrapped in Federal Evoluzion tires sized at 235/35/20 and 295/30/20.
"We were one of the first to reach out to [Felgenwerks] as a new company and saw some of the designs before they were made," Jones tells Tuner Fan. "We love how their designs are more creative and artistic than the norm."
Under the Felgenwerks rollers is a set of copper-plated Brembo brake calipers, which are matched to R1 Concepts rotors and pads, plus StopTech stainless brake lines. The whole thing rides on Airforce Suspension airbags with an Air Lift Performance air management system, while a set of adjustable endlinks and a copper-plated Cusco strut bar round out the suspension stuff.
As for the engine spec, the Cruizen By Design Hyundai Genesis rocks a clean-shaved bay with bright copper paint that simply begs for attention. Copper-plating was applied to the Injen cold air intake, coolant system, brake lines, NGI dipstick, oil cap, and brake reservoir cap.
"There's no way to get the reflection and true copper color in painting," Jones tells Tuner Fan regarding the decision to copper-plate certain components. "We wanted it to look as close to a penny as possible."
The engine itself was painted gloss black and fitted with a custom carbon fiber engine cover. JDMSPEED engine hardware, dual hood struts from Ruckus Customs, and custom carbon fiber coolant hoses add the final dash of under-hood style.
As for performance, the lower and upper intake manifolds were ported, as was the throttle body. NGM headers exhale into ARK Performance downpipes and straight test pipes with a custom Y pipe, exhaust cutout, and custom quad tips. There's also a Hot Licks Exhaust Flame Thrower kit to spice it up at the show. An AlphaSpeed custom ECU tune keeps it running right. Output is estimated at 300 horsepower at the wheels.
Moving inside, we find carbon upper door panels and carbon door pulls, matched with suit fabric for the door panels, A-pillars, and headliner. SoCal Garage Works provided the carbon steering wheel, and there are custom carbon fiber touches for the vents and center console as well.
As one might expect, the copper-plating theme returns in the cabin, with the shift knob, door handles, NRG harness bar, and shift bezel all looking like a pretty penny. Diamond stitch floor mats are matched with Status Racing carbon-backed racing seats, with copper-plated seat brackets and Status Racing seat harnesses.
Finishing it up is a custom carbon fiber LED-lit backseat delete and an OEM Infinity sound system with navigation and 8-inch subwoofer.
These days, Jones says Cruizen By Design is taking on a wealth of new customer projects, but the shop is also tweaking the Hyundai Genesis to continue its evolution. We can't wait to see what comes next.