The Hyundai Staria Hybrid combines a small turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor and battery.
The Hyundai Staria has been quite successful in transitioning the company’s traditional MPV customer base to something more futuristic and upmarket. For decades, the Grand Starex had been the company’s bread and butter for this segment, but the Staria presented a different, more space-age path. Now the South Korean automotive giant is taking things a step further by introducing a hybrid version of the Staria according to Korean Car Blog.
The Hyundai Staria Hybrid is being introduced to the Korean market and there’s no indication of whether other markets will receive it as well. It doesn’t look much different from the Staria that we have here save for a 3 changes. The first is seen on the outside – there are now new 18″ alloy wheels specific to this hybrid model. The second change is found inside – with blue inlays to indicate its ‘hybrid’ nature. Finally, also in the cabin – new animations and infotainment displays specific to the hybrid system.
Staria Hybrid Powertrain
The Staria Hybrid introduces a tiny 1.6L turbocharged four cylinder petrol motor and an electric motor together with a battery pack. This package is good for 245PS and 367Nm of torque. Not bad when compared to the familiar 2.2L turbo diesel’s 177PS and 431Nm of torque. There’s also a 3.5L V6 petrol in other markets and this powertrain is capable of 272PS and 331Nm of torque. This new turbo-hybrid powertrain comes in right in the middle, offering a more horsepower than the turbodiesel and more torque than the large displacement petrol motor. The trade off for adding more complexity is of course fewer emissions and lower fuel consumption.
Would You Buy A Hybrid MPV?
Currently Toyota already offers a hybrid MPV in the form of the Innova Zenix Hybrid for just over RM200K. Given that the current Staria turbodiesel starts at RM179,888 for the 10-seater variant, perhaps there will be a market for this hybrid powertrain too. Without incentives though, we can probably expect this electrified MPV to be a much more expensive product versus its diesel counterpart.
