The Inster also gets Hyundai’s full suite of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), including a 360deg parking camera, adaptive cruise control and the Korean brand’s novel blindspot monitoring system, which projects a camera image of your rear quarter view onto the instrument panel as you indicate.
Deliveries of the Inster are set to start by next spring. UK customers will be offered both battery options and two trim levels, named 01 and 02.
Kit including the digital instrument panel, infotainment touchscreen, rear-view camera and automatic headlights are standard. However, to get the sliding rear bench, flat-folding front seats or LED headlights you have to opt for 02 trim, priced from £26,745.
“We believe we will start electrification not only for the early adopters but for the mass market,” said Paolo Gnerro, product planning manager for Hyundai Motor Europe.
He explained that the company is targeting two new types of customers with the Inster: “very young”, potentially buying their first new cars; and “empty-nesters – families with kids already [moved out of] home, mainly in their 50s”, who want a second car for running errands.
Gnerro added that he believed the Inster would operate outside the traditional size-bound segments, pointing to changing customer behaviours with EVs.
He explained: “They were not saying ‘this is a 3.8m car; it’s A-segment’. They were segmenting the cars depending on the range, no matter the size of the car. For them, a 350km-range [217-mile] car is comparable to another 350km car, no matter what the size is.”