Hyundai Inster Unveiled Globally: This Little EV Lasts 335 km!

Hyundai has unveiled the Hyundai Inster, its new subcompact EV, at the 2024 Busan International Mobility Show. This will be the most affordable option in the Hyundai EV lineup, which they plan to launch around 20.88 Lakhs ($25,000). Its base is the Hyundai Casper, which has been sold in the Korean Market since 2021. 

Design of Hyundai Inster

The Hyundai Exter takes external design cues from the Casper. It is positioned between the A-segment and B-segment cars, which gives it an advantage by making it easier to manoeuvre in traffic while providing a spacious cabin and improved luggage holding capacity for passengers. 

It has a boxy SUV profile from the front and back with the help of its fenders, circuit board style bumper and heavy skid plates. It gets an LED DRL strip with pixel-like LEDs and turn indicators on the front. The headlights are also LED but round, giving a car a subtle cuteness. The rear is characterised by a pixelated strip of LEDs on both sides of the Hyundai logo, and below is an Inster badge. It gets round tail lights similar to the ones on the front. On the side, you will notice a contrasted black roof and the wheels, which come with an option of 15-inch steel ones with wheel covers, 15-inch alloys or 17-inch alloys. 

The paint options include Atlas White, Tomboy Khaki, Bijarim Khaki Matte and Unbleached Ivory, along with new options like Sienna Orange Metallic, Aero Silver Matte, Dusk Blue Matte, Buttercream Yellow Pearl, and Abyss Black Pearl. Some exterior colour choices will be available in two-tone combinations with a contrasting black roof.

Interior of Hyundai Inster

Moving inside, you get a 10.25 driver panel and a 10.25-inch infotainment panel with navigation; below is a wireless charger. The steering wheel takes the pixel theme inside with the Hyundai logo (Like the Ioniq 5). All seats of the Inster can be folded flat, including the drivers. The front seats also have a bench seat option and heating, with the second row having a 50-50 split along with a slide and recline. The interior colour options include  Black, Khaki Brown and Newtro Beige two-tone with full cloth trim.

The Inster uses sustainable materials from the inside out. This starts with recycled paint that uses recycled waste tyres instead of carbon black pigment. It also uses Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from bottles and bio-polypropylene material extracted from sugarcane on the inside.

Powertrain and Charging 

The Inster is powered by a single motor that churns out 95.6 bhp in the base variant and 113.4 in the long-range variant. The torque with both is 147 Nm. This motor derives power from a 42 kWh battery or a 49 kWh long-range option. Hyundai has claimed the long-range variant can give a best-in-class range of 355 km on a single charge with a battery consumption rate of 15.3 kWh/100 km. You can charge this battery with a 120 kW DC charger that will power it from 10 to 80 per cent in 30 minutes. Hyundai bundles an 11 kW charger with the Inster as standard. 

The Inster supports bi-charging of the Vehicle-to-Load type, which can be used to charge appliances at 100V or 220V. These devices can be charged by it, including bicycles, scooters, and camping equipment.

Features of Hyundai Inster

The features of the Inster include 64-colour LED ambient lighting, a digital cluster, a one-touch sunroof and Hyundai Digital Key 2 Touch (NFC) accessibility. It also takes care of the safety of the passengers with its ADAS suite that gets features like Surround View Monitor, Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist Rear, Blind-spot View Monitor and Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist 1.5. It also gets Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Following Assist, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist and other such functionalities. 

Launch Timeline of Inster

The Inster will first be launched in Hyundai’s Korean home market this summer. It will then be followed by Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Hyundai is also planning a variant called Inster Cross that will roll out in the future. There is no information about Inster’s launch in India. The Indian market is expected to get an Exter EV that will rival the Tata Punch EV.

Read more on the car world here.