ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,252,178, issued on March 18, was assigned to HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY (Seoul, South Korea), KIA Corp. (Seoul, South Korea) and HYUNDAI MOBIS Co. LTD. (Seoul, South Korea).
"Hood-integrated vehicle body" was invented by Dong Eun Cha (Hwaseong-si, South Korea), Jin Young Yoon (Gimpo-si, South Korea), Hong Heui Lee (Suwon-si, South Korea) and Seong Kwon Kim (Hwaseong-si, South Korea).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hood-integrated vehicle body in which a hood, a bumper, and a fender are integrally formed into a single component so as to reduce the weight thereof is disclosed. The hood-integrated vehicle body includes a front vehicle body part...