Hyundai does not build many cars like the Hyundai Casper: a 5-door hatchback / 5-door panel van (Casper Van) with Petrol engine, built from 2021 in the decade the industry is turning electric.
Where it came from
The Hyundai Casper (Korean: 현대 캐스퍼) is an (A-segment) crossover city car produced by the South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai since 2021. It is the smallest crossover SUV ever offered by the brand, and also the smallest automobile of any kind sold by Hyundai.
The Casper was developed to comply with South Korea's "light car" (Korean: 경차, romanized: Gyeongcha) category, which offers tax incentives for vehicles with exterior dimensions below 3,600 mm (141.7 in) in length and 1,600 mm (63.0 in) in width. It is the first Hyundai vehicle to occupy the segment since the Atos. A battery electric derivative, the Casper Electric (marketed abroad as the Hyundai Inster), was introduced in mid-2024.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 985 –. The gearbox is a 4-speed automatic. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2400 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Hyundai's history is not in doubt: it was built at Gwangju (GGM), South Korea. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Kia EV6, the Tesla Model Y, the Nissan Z. Nearby in the Hyundai catalogue sit the Hyundai Accent WRC and the Hyundai Accent.