Hyundai Casper

The Hyundai Casper (현대 캐스퍼) is a crossover city car produced by the South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai. It is the smallest crossover SUV ever offered by the brand, and also the smallest automobile of any kind that is currently sold by Hyundai.

The Casper has been developed in compliance with the "light car" (경차) category in South Korea which offers tax incentives for vehicles with exterior dimensions below 3600 mm in length and 1600 mm in width, and is the first Hyundai vehicle to occupy the segment after the Atos. As the result, it is developed as a four-seater vehicle.

A battery electric version of the Casper was introduced in June 2024 as the Hyundai Casper Electric, or the Hyundai Inster in Europe.

Overview
The Casper was revealed through a set of images on 1 September 2021. Pre-orders started on 15 September 2021, and the vehicle was released on 29 September. According to Hyundai, the name "Casper" is taken from the Casper skateboarding technique. It's also confirmed that the Casper will be getting advanced driver-assistance systems across three trim lines, Smart, Modern and Inspiration.

The front fascia has turn signal lights situated at the top and circular LED daytime running lights at the bottom. The rear door handle uses a hidden type near the window glass portion, while the parametric pattern of the front grill was applied to the rear lamp to design. Circular turn signal lights was used for the front/rear portions. The rear seat is in the form of two single seats attached.

The Casper uses a pedal-type parking brake. Safety technologies such as forward collision prevention assistance, lane departure prevention assistance, and lane maintenance assistance are available. The Smartstream G1.0 petrol engine is based on the existing 76 PS naturally aspirated engine.

The Casper Van was officially released on 3 February 2022. It has secured a loading capacity of 940 liters by emptying the space in the second row. Hot stamping, a lightweight construction method, was applied to major areas to minimize body deformation in case of collision. The torsional rigidity and average tensile strength were increased through the high-strength lightweight body.

Casper Electric / Inster
On 27 June 2024 at the Busan International Mobility Show, Hyundai introduced a battery electric derivative of the Casper. It is marketed as the Hyundai Casper Electric in South Korea, and as the Hyundai Inster in Europe. According to Hyundai, Inster is a portmanteau of 'intimate' and 'innovative'.

In Europe, the Inster will be positioned between the A-SUV and B-SUV segments. Starting from early 2025, Hyundai plans to market the electric vehicle as the Casper Electric in Japan and as the Inster in Australia, but no plans have been announced for the United States.

Compared to the petrol-powered Casper, Hyundai extended the length and wheelbase of the Casper Electric / Inster by 230 and 180 mm, respectively. The width also has grown by 15 mm.

Powertrain
The integrated drive module used by the Casper Electric / Inster is sourced from BorgWarner. Maximum outputs are 71 kW and 147 Nm for the front-mounted traction motor on the Standard range model, and 84.5 kW and 147 Nm for the Long Range model.

The Casper Electric / Inster will be available with Standard, and Long Range powertrain options with 42 kWh and 49 kWh battery respectively. Although early reports stated they would be equipped with lithium iron phosphate chemistry, it was announced at launch the batteries will be lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) instead. Under WLTP standards, the electric range is rated at 300 km and 355 km respectively. There is an on-board charger which accepts AC power at up to 11 kW; the vehicle also can connect to a DC source at up to 120 kW, at which rate either battery will recharge from 10 to 80% in 30 minutes.