Even though the Hyundai Casper was rumoured to be India-bound, it’s actually the i10-based Exter that finally made it to our market. This isn’t surprising, given the small footprint of the Casper making it quite irrelevant to our landscape. Meanwhile, even as the Exter was yet to launch here, I heard from Hyundai Motor Europe’s marketing chief, Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, about carmaker’s intentions to introduce an affordable electric car in Europe. With a target price of €20,000 (approximately INR 18,00,000), the new model would target the budget-end of the EV spectrum. Fast forward to September 2023 and first sightings confirmed the compact EV in question to be the electric Casper, The test mule was seen testing in Europe. And now, ahead of the official debut, the rather cutesy electric car has been spied again.
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Hyundai Casper EV to Rival VW e-up!
I stumbled upon the video of the latest sighting of the small electric vehicle on Instagram. Despite the heavy camouflage, its design resonates with the Casper, the cute hatchback that features a three-cylinder, 1.0-liter gasoline engine in its ICS format. Yes, the same micro-car is now transitioning into the electric realm. The evolution is evident, and it’s intriguing to witness how this shift will impact its performance and appeal. From the looks of it, Hyundai seems be benchmarking the Casper EV against the VW e-up!. I feel that the electric iteration will be only as big as the ICE version with a max. length of 3595 millimeters.
A previous set of spy images show the front-mounted charging port of the electric Casper. This is similar to the setup found on the latest Kona Electric. It is interesting to note here that both these models share platforms with the ICE versions. This marks a clear difference from Hyundai’s dedicated BEV lineup that includes the Ioniq series of vehicles. Even though the aesthetics will be close to what you get on the gasoline-sipping version, some adjustments are bound to be made. We can see a bespoke interior theme, while the exterior could feature clear distinction in some of the soft parts. Inside, the Casper could feature digital instrumentation and a bigger infotainment screen.
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i10, i20 and i30 to Receive Another Generation
Also, unlike what many have felt, the Hyundai Casper EV won’t replace the i10 in the European market. While the current A-segmenter got a mid-life facelift recently, it’s even bound to see a complete generation change. This is inline with the carmaker’s plans of even coming up with another generation of the i20 and i30. However, Hyundai’s cessation of ICE car sales will take place in 2035.
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