The spaceship-looking Hyundai Staria Premium is officially here

Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors Sdn Bhd, the sole distributor of the Hyundai brand here in Malaysia, has unveiled its latest luxury seven-seater MPV called the Hyundai Staria Premium. This futuristic-looking people carrier is said to be Hyundai's vision for future mobility via its Smart Mobility Solution initiative.

The star of the show has to be its new design language which is inspired by the forms and lines of a spaceship. The side profile showcases a single stroke or line from front to back that is supposedly inspired by the 'curve of light that illuminates the Earth’s horizon at sunrise when viewed from space'.

Perhaps its most notable feature lies at the front end which comes with that horizontal daytime-running lights and positioning light that looks like a single bar of light running across the width of the Staria's front end. Set with the same colour for its entire front side, the Hyundai Staria Premium also comes with a wide and premium-looking radiator grille with low-mounted LED headlamps which also run across the width of the vehicle.

Powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine, the Staria Premium produces 177PS and 431Nm of torque. Modulating that power down to its 18-inch wheels is an eight-speed automatic transmission with shift-by-wire technology and also a set of paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. But whoever those who are sitting at the back are the ones reaping the benefits of what the Staria Premium has to offer.

While the outside looks like a spaceship, the interior resembles what you would normally find on a cruise ship. A pair of captain seats with electric adjustment sit on the second row while the third row can seat up to three. Its overall layout offers room and flexibility together with decent cargo space that can be expanded from 431 litres to 5,000 litres if you opt to fold the third-row seats.

As for the driver, there's the 10.25-inch multi-info display that is able to show a live feed of blindspots of each end when you turn on the signal indicators. You'll also get a 360 view of the Staria via its 8-inch centre touchscreen for added safety. Other specs include a set of 12 speakers courtesy of Bose.

Safety-wise, the Hyundai Staria Premium comes ready with:

• Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA)
• Lane Keep Assist (LKA)
• Lane Following Assist (LFA)    
• Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA)
• Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (RCCA)
• Safe Exit Assist (SEA)
• Smart Cruise Control (SCC)

Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors has priced the new Hyundai Staria Premium from RM358,888 (on-the-road price excluding insurance). Each unit of the Staria Premium is by order basis straight from South Korea and with a waiting time of three months minimum. Viewing and test drives are exclusively available at Hyundai Ara Damansara.