All-new Hyundai Inster UK pricing and specs announced

Hyundai has revealed the UK pricing and specifications for its upcoming Inster hatchback -a Dacia Spring rival positioned at the budget end of the EV market.

This boxy four-seat electric car – which Hyundai describes as its ‘first small electric SUV’ – will be offered with two different powertrain options. The entry-level 97hp 42kWh Inster is followed by a ‘long range’ version, which uses a larger 49kWh battery pack and a more powerful 115hp motor.

While the standard car can muster up to 180 miles of travel on a single charge, the ‘Long Range’ has a maximum distance of 221 miles on a single charge. Both versions can charge at speeds up to 120kW, and it reportedly takes half an hour to charge the battery from 10% to 80% at that speed.

This new Hyundai line-up surpasses the Dacia Spring’s 186-mile range and the Citroën ë-C3’s reported single-charge maximum of 199 miles.

The entry-level version of the Inster is also around seven seconds faster to 62mph from launch (11.7 seconds) than the equivalent 45hp version of the Spring, due to its more powerful electric motor. Top speed is electronically limited at 87mph or 93mph, depending on your model of choice.

Likely to accommodate the larger battery, Hyundai has slightly stretched the car’s Casper (a model sold in South Korea) foundations to just over 3.8 metres long, and the brand says that the car offers 280 litres of boot space (which expands to 381 litres with the rear seats folded).

In the cabin, the Inster comes with a ten-inch digital instrument cluster and ten-inch central infotainment display that juts out of the dashboard, the size of which is usually reserved for larger new cars.

The steering wheel lights up when the car is charging and several physical switches for functions like climate control and the parking brake are positioned on a panel below the infotainment screen.

Like the larger electric Ioniq 5 hatchback, the Inster’s dashboard is disconnected from the cup-holder centre console between the front seats, which adds a little more foot room.

Besides autonomous emergency braking – a legal requirement for new cars – the compact EV also comes with blind spot monitoring tech and a surround-view parking monitor and parking collision-avoidance assistance.

The trim choices are rather simple – customers will be able to choose from the lead-in ’01’ and the top-spec ’02’, the latter being a mandatory choice should you want the more powerful 49kWh powertrain.

On top of the standard equipment list that also includes 15-inch alloy wheels, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, rain-sensing windscreen wipers, cruise control, a rear parking sensor and a rear occupant alert that sounds if someone is left in the back seats when exiting the car, the ’02’ trim adds roof rails, a front parking sensor and reclining and sliding rear seats.

Key trim level features

64-colour ambient interior lighting can also be specced on top of the standard offering, as can wireless smartphone charging, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

The ’02’ swaps out the standard 15-inch alloys for larger 17-inch alloy wheels, and introduces LED headlights and LED tail lights to the range. The ’01’ does have a LED daytime running light in the front, but this entry-level version has halogen headlights.

The Inster will be also offered with two-tone exterior paint options that paint the roof a different colour for an extra fee, but only if you opt for the ’02’ trim first.

While the Inster is superior to the Dacia Spring in terms of power, range and standard equipment, it is also more expensive. Hyundai says that pricing for its new compact EV will start at over £23k in the UK – £8k more than the Spring. Opting for the ’02’ trim with the 49kWh powertrain raises the price tag to a few hundred under £27k.

We currently don’t have official confirmation of the Inster’s arrival date, but with the UK pricing and trims now announced in detail, the compact’s EV could be available to order in a matter of weeks, likely before the end of the year. Hyundai says the first customer deliveries are scheduled for early next year, and says that the range will also eventually include a more rugged ‘Cross’ version.

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