Hyundai-Kia, engineering services firm Alten Korea and BASF have built a concept car seat for the Kia EV3 Study Car 2.0 that is designed from the outset for dismantling and material separation at end of life — reversing an industry pattern in which recyclability is considered only after a design is finished.

The three partners combined expertise in vehicle development, engineering, product design and advanced materials for the project. The companies say the seat demonstrates how circular material solutions, design-for-disassembly principles and end-of-life considerations can be incorporated into vehicle interiors rather than bolted on later.

Which materials are in the seat?

BASF's material portfolio anchors the concept. Engineering plastics, polyurethanes (PU) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) are built into the seat architecture specifically to support easier dismantling and cleaner separation of materials when the vehicle reaches end of life. The material choices were made jointly with the seat's structural design, not independently of it.

What does the concept change in the design process?

The seat turns end-of-life planning into a front-loaded engineering task. "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," said Jongkook Lee, Vice President, Hyundai Motor Group. "This seat project helps us assess how material selection, assembly methods and future dismantling requirements interact within a complex interior system."

Alten Korea developed the seat design alongside Hyundai-Kia and BASF, translating the partners' material and disassembly objectives into one integrated seat architecture. The design explores how component construction and assembly choices can facilitate future dismantling and the sorting of materials after the vehicle leaves service.

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

Why do the material interfaces matter?

Seats mix multiple material classes in a single, compact package — a persistent obstacle to recycling automotive interiors. "Automotive seats require different material classes to work together within a single system," said Andy Postlethwaite, Senior Vice President, BASF Performance Materials Asia Pacific. "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."

The partners frame the project as a working laboratory: each material pairing and joining method tested in the seat feeds knowledge back into how future interiors might be built for disassembly at scale.

How long has the partnership run?

Study Car 2.0 extends a collaboration between Hyundai Motor Group and BASF that has produced concept vehicles for over a decade:

• The Hyundai i-flow concept car in 2010
• The Hyundai RN30 concept car in 2016
• The Kia EV3 Study Car in 2024
• The Kia EV3 Study Car 2.0, the current project

Built on the Kia EV3 platform, Study Car 2.0 advances the partnership by applying end-of-life design considerations across a broader range of vehicle materials and, for the first time in the series, within the seat architecture itself.

For suppliers and OEMs facing tightening circularity rules in Europe and Asia, the seat offers a template for making recyclability an engineering input rather than a post-design afterthought.