SPY PICS: Prius rival deep under cover

Hyundai has been rumoured to be planning a range of alternative-energy small cars to follow in the footsteps of Toyota's Prius.

But Hyundai is also known to be committed to hydrogen fuel-cell technology as the major plank of its future alternative-energy systems. Sister company Kia is also heavily invested in future energy systems. So these spy pics of a Korean small car testing in the snow raise an intriguing question: Is it a Hyundai mule, or rather a Kia dressed up to resemble a Hyundai mule?

Automedia, the company supplying the photos, insists it's a Hyundai and the mule is the first fruits of the company's 'AE' project to develop a competitor to Toyota's Prius hybrid range. There is, however, an outside chance this is actually a Kia, since both Kia and its parent have a relatively long history of marketing hybrid variants of mainstream passenger cars.

There's certainly no reason that engineering, architecture and mechanicals for this new Prius-beater couldn't be shared across both brands anyway. As Toyota has informed journalists in the past, hybrid-drive systems lend themselves to fuel cell technology, so developing a hybrid model is a stepping stone on the way to a fully-fledged fuel cell vehicle.

Automedia asserts this car is based on an Elantra platform and is testing the hybrid-drive system – comprising a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder and an electric drive system with a lithium-ion battery to store recovered energy. The production model will spawn multiple variants, including different body styles and drivetrains – with a plug-in hybrid said to be definitely on the cards.

Even if the car is, in fact, a Hyundai, it's practically certain Hyundai will want to amortise the development cost of an expensive model like this – and potentially a niche-selling model to boot – across the widest possible range of variants for global consumption. That means it may be sold in both Hyundai and Kia guises – up against the Prius. And down the track it could provide the technical basis for a fuel cell passenger car. Both steps would pave the way for Hyundai/Kia to meet upcoming emissions legislation.

That is what makes this car important to Hyundai/Kia, and why we think it will eventually make its way to Australia – in one form or another. That's despite the reluctance of Hyundai to sell hybrids to local consumers and Kia's historic inability to develop RHD hybrids.

Supporting the view that Korean hybrids will reach Australia in coming years is Hyundai's current charge up the sales charts in the local market. The Korean brand is shaping up to take on market leader Toyota in every segment and market nook in which Toyota competes. Prius and its derivatives are potentially in Hyundai's gunsights – not just globally, but here too.

One of the hurdles to overcome bringing hybrids to Australia is the cost of setting up static-free workshops at dealer level. An industry source told motoring.com.au that there are "serious health and safety issues" involved with working around the electrical systems on board hybrid-drive vehicles while they're being serviced. The same source did say, however, that bringing hybrids to Australia was "not impossible", although that would probably have to wait for market conditions to change – either the price of the technology to come down drastically, or fuel prices to rise sharply.

The as-yet unnamed production hybrid will make its global debut next year.