Cheaper front-drive 2024 Hyundai Staria diesel inbound

The Hyundai Staria people-mover line-up looks set for expansion in 2024 with what could be a more affordable front-wheel drive 2.2-litre turbo-diesel powertrain, which has just received Australian Design Rule certification.

As per the mid-size Tucson and large Santa Fe SUVs, diesel variants of the Hyundai Staria have traditionally been offered exclusively with all-wheel drive, setting the spaceship-like people-mover apart from its contemporaries as well as the closely-related Kia Carnival, which is only offered here in two-wheel drive form.

And with the big Kia accounting for more than 82 per cent of all sub-$70,000 people-mover sales last year, it’d be fair to assume Hyundai wants a bigger slice of the action and the best way to achieve that is via a bigger line-up.

There are six Staria variants currently available in Australia, priced from $49,000 plus on-road costs and with AWD diesels carrying a $3000 price premium over the equivalent 3.5-litre petrol V6 (front-drive), most of which is accounted for by the extra hardware needed to send drive to the rear axle.

Two-wheel drive would see that premium at least cut in half, if not down to just $1000, which would see the diesel Staria priced from $50,000 while offering more tractable and more efficient performance than the thirstier and peakier petrol V6 version.

A further improvement in fuel economy should also be on the cards thanks to the 108kg weight saving and reduced mechanical drag.

The homologation data doesn’t reveal any major mechanical or platform changes for the new front-drive diesel Staria beyond the standard fitment of 17-inch wheels (versus 18s on AWD and petrol variants) and a higher payload than the AWD (877kg v 769kg).

A maximum braked towing capacity of 2500kg remains steady across the entire line-up, as does an eight-speed automatic transmission and the 130kW peak power output of the diesel engine.

Equipment upgrades and/or spec updates are also likely to materialise at some stage this year, since specs for the Staria Load commercial van have also recently been republished on the federal government’s ADR approval database, but we’ll have to wait and see about the specifics.

Hyundai Australia said “it’s standard practice” for the brand “to homologate all powertrain options available for our market” whether it decides to offer them locally or not.

“In this instance we have no current plans to introduce a 2WD diesel Staria (people mover) variant,” a spokesperson said.