Hyundai says Staria is aimed at convincing SUV buyers into people-movers

UPDATE, September 17: The 2022 Hyundai Staria is now on sale in Australia, and we've driven it. Find our reviews here.

The Hyundai Staria will have one clear objective for its lifecycle in Australia – take sales away from SUVs and get buyers back into people-movers.

The Korean marque has a significant challenge ahead given the sub-$70,000 large SUV segment accounted for 91,243 sales last year, while the sub-$60,000 people-mover market managed just 6772 units.

Targeting the SUV market is one factor behind Hyundai not offering its 2.2-litre diesel as a front-wheel drive model in Australia, instead mating it to an all-wheel drive layout as standard to provide a tangible crossover with similarly priced SUVs – although it should be noted the cheaper 3.5-litre petrol variant is only available in front-wheel drive.

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The carmaker expects a relatively even split between its three Staria variants, with the base vehicle expected to take 40 per cent of sales, while the Elite and Highlander grades will account for around 30 per cent each.

Similarly, the choice of engines for customers will be close to half-half with roughly 45 per cent expected to buy the cheaper FWD petrol, while 55 per cent will fork out the extra $3000 for the AWD diesel.

Hyundai Australia is also confident its latest offering can not only surpass the market share of the retired van-turned-people-mover iMax – which accounted for 9.4 per cent of sub-$60,000 people-mover sales last year – but it believes the Staria can also challenge the segment leading Kia Carnival.

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This might be a tall order for two reasons – the Carnival currently holds a 59.7 per cent market share for 2021 so far, and 56.9 per cent in August alone – retaining its place as the top dog.

And secondly, the Carnival also shares the same N3 platform as the Staria, meaning the Hyundai-made vehicle has to offer a clear point of difference to take sales away from its cousin – and indeed the Sorento, Tucson, Sonata and Sportage, which are also underpinned by the N3 platform and provide a more car-like driving experience.

Despite only being on sale for a month, industry data shows 101 Starias were registered in August, accounting for 14.6 per cent of all people-mover registrations in Australia last month – pushing it to second on the list ahead of the LDV G10 Wagon, Volkswagen Multivan and Honda Odyssey.

The coming weeks will see Hyundai officially launch the Staria Load as the replacement to the iLoad, giving commercial buyers a chance to buy into its new van range.

The all-new 2022 Hyundai Staria is available in showrooms now, for more pricing and features information click here.