Hyundai unveils its smallest, most affordable EV yet, starting at $39,000

South Korea car giant Hyundai has announced the pricing and specifications of its smallest and most affordable electric car to date, the Inster. 

This is one of Hyundai’s most significant models as the brand continues to expand its EV lineup from its award winning Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 EVs, and the earlier Kona. It is especially important for customers looking at a small and affordable electric car. 

The Inster will start at under $40,000 for the entry-level Standard Range variant and will be offered in three variants.  Prices of these variants before on-roads costs are:

• Standard Range – $39,600
• Extended Range – $42,500
• Inster Cross with Sunroof/Roof Basket – $45,000

The Inster will be available with two battery options, including the Inster Standard and with an Extended Range battery pack.

The Standard Range variant is equipped with a 42 kWh battery pack delivering 327 km of WLTP range, while the Extended Range variant bumps that up to 49 kWh, which is expected to deliver a range of up to 360 km on the WLTP cycle. 

Charging this variant from 10-80 per cent will take 30 minutes at a 120 kW rated charger. There is also an AC charging capability of up to 10.5 kW on offer across both battery packs.

Vehicle to load (V2L) is also available for those looking at powering other devices off the car when the vehicle is parked.

These battery pack options are powered by slightly different motors with the first one being a 71.1 kW motor that offers a peak torque of 147 Nm. 

This gets a slight increase with the Extended Range battery variants that get an 84.5 kW motor. The power is delivered to the front wheels.

This powertrain also helps the Inster accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 11.7 seconds for the entry level model, while all Extended Range variants can achieve this in 10.6 seconds.. 

On the styling front, the Inster takes a bold, more trendy, boxier approval and features unique daytime running lights (DRL). 

When it comes to the model’s size, it sits over 600 mm shorter than the larger Ioniq 5, coming in at 3,825 mm.

The Inster will be offered in 6 colours, providing a variety of options for buyer’s of Hyundai’s smallest yet very trendy electric SUV.

These include some headline colours such as Buttercream Yellow for Standard Range and Amazonas Green Metallic Matte for Inster Cross.

Moving to the inside, the cabin takes inspiration from other Hyundai’s other smaller vehicles by offering a good balance of space and practicality. 

The rear boot has 280 litres of storage which can be increased to 351 litres by sliding the rear seats forward.

For the driver, the centre console offers two 10.25-inch screens. One is the infotainment screen with navigation in the middle while the other is behind the steering wheel that shows driving information. 

Cloth and bio leather upholstery options are available depending on the variant and it’s good to see multiple interior options being available on the Inster.

On the safety front, Hyundai has included a large number of its safety suite, including Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) features such as:

• Blind-Spot Collision Avoidance-Assist (BCA)
• Driver Attention Warning (DAW)
• Forward Collision Avoidance Assist 1.5 (FCA 1.5) – Junction Turning
• High Beam Assist (HBA)
• Highway Driving Assist (HDA)
• In-Cabin Camera (ICC)
• Intelligent Speed Limit Assist (ISLA)
• Lane Following Assist (LFA)
• Lane Keeping Assist – Line/Road-Edge (LKA-L/R)
• Manual Speed Limit Assist (MSLA)
• Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (RCCA)
• Rear Occupant Alert (ROA)
• Safe Exit Warning (SEW)
• Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM) – INSTER Cross variant
• Surround View Monitor (SVM) – INSTER Cross variant
• Reverse Parking Collision Avoidance (PCA-R) – Inster Cross variant
• Parking Distance Warning (PDW-F) – Inster Cross variant

From a driving experience point of view, the Inster also keeps the adjustable regenerative braking technology feature, allowing the drivers to control the amount of regenerative braking.

According to Hyundai, the new Inster has now arrived in Australia and is available to order.

Hyundai Inster Pricing

Note: All prices are Manufacturer’s List Price (MLP). Price excludes delivery and on-road costs.

Specifications

Riz Akhtar

Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.