Hyundai Casper (AX1) will be the brand’s smallest SUV upon launch, and it is expected to arrive in the Indian market next year
Hyundai is preparing to globally debut a new micro-SUV soon, christened ‘Casper’. Internally codenamed AX1, this upcoming Hyundai crossover will likely be based on the brand’s K1 platform, which also underpins the Santro and Grand i10 Nios. The vehicle is scheduled to enter mass production on September 15, 2021.
The upcoming Casper will be first launched in Hyundai’s home market of South Korea. The vehicle will later make its way to other markets as well, including India. We expect the Casper to make its way to our shores sometime during the next year, as a rival to Maruti Ignis, Mahindra KUV100, Ford Freestyle, and the upcoming Tata HBX.
The exterior design of the vehicle is rather quirky, inspired in part by other Hyundai crossovers. At the front, it gets a split headlamps setup, with sleek LED DRLs (which double up as turn indicators) at the top and round headlamps positioned lower. The headlamps also get integrated LED rings, and the vehicle will also get a large front grille and black plastic cladding all around.
The side profile of the upcoming Hyundai Casper will be extremely boxy, and it will get roof rails as well. At the rear, the micro-SUV will sport LED matrices for the brake lights, while the reverse parking light and turn indicators will be placed lower, on the rear bumper, mimicking the design of the headlamps.
Hyundai Casper is expected to be available with plenty of premium features, like a large touchscreen infotainment system, keyless entry and go, rear parking camera, cooled glove box, and connected car tech. Safety features will likely include multiple airbags, ABS, EBD, electronic stability control, etc.
As per speculations, Hyundai will likely offer a 1.2-litre petrol engine on the Casper. This motor is good for a peak power of 83 PS and a maximum torque of 114 Nm. Other than that, a 1.0-litre turbo-GDI engine option is also expected, which belts out 120 PS and 172 Nm. In the Indian market, we might get a 1.1-litre petrol engine option as well, taken from the Santro, to keep the costs down.