Hyundai has made a tiny crossover and its adorable

Words by Marcus Boothby

Like it or not, crossovers are the hottest thing in the car world at the moment. Every major car manufacture has at least one crossover in their line-up, with some solely depending on crossovers in order to survive. But, the majority of crossovers are usually VW Polo size or bigger, with little to no attention being paid to anything smaller. Sure, there are the Japanese kei cars which is a unique market segment full of interesting and weird cars.

Now Hyundai has decided to bring the crossover trend to the smallest segment with the all-new Casper. This adorable little thing is based on the same platform as the Kia Picanto and Hyundai’s own i10 city car. This means the Casper is 3,595mm long and just 1,595mm wide, making it absolutely tiny.

You might be wondering what’s powering this tiny crossover? Well there will initially be a choice of two 1.0-litre three cylinder petrol engines. One will be naturally-aspirated with 75bhp or a turbocharged one with a dizzying 99bhp, plus you’ll have a choice of either a manual or an automatic gearbox. There might be a fully electric version coming in the next year or two as well.

The styling of the Casper is bold but adorable at the same time, reminding us of the current Suzuki Ignis. The front is dominated by a set of circular LED lights, with another set of lights on top giving the look of eyes and eyebrows, which is similar to the Nissan Juke but way better. The rear lighting design is quite cool around the back, with the taillights being integrated into the rear hatch, which is good for packaging and reducing costs. We don’t know what the interior looks like yet, but we can guess it could be a modernised version of what is offered in the i10.

Sales will start in South Korea in the coming weeks, with potential sales in India starting next year. However, there is no word on if Europe or the UK is getting this adorable little car.