New Hyundai Casper Teased For Korea And It's Impossibly Cute

3 years, 3 months ago - 4 September 2021, motor1

It's tiny, too, at nearly 1.5 feet shorter than a Venue.

The Hyundai Casper is a tiny, new crossover that the company is teasing ahead of its launch in South Korea. With huge LED lights and a slit in the lower grille, the vehicle always looks surprised to see you.

The Casper name doesn't come from the famously friendly cartoon ghost. Instead, it comes from a skateboarding trick where the board flips and spins when the rider jumps. Hyundai will start taking orders for the vehicle in September, and deliveries will start later in the year.

Despite the cute look in front, the Casper has a muscular shape in profile. There are crisp lines, and the fenders extend slightly outward from the rest of the body. The cladding around the fenders also adds an air of ruggedness

At the back, there's a steeply raked hatchback. There are large taillights at the lower corners with red outer sections and white on the inside. The shape evokes the big lamps at the front.

Hyundai hasn't released any photos of the interior.

Hyundai confirms the Casper is available with either a 1.0-liter naturally aspirated engine or a 1.0-liter turbocharged powerplant. According to Asia Today, the vehicle measures 11.79 feet (3595 millimeters) long, 5.233 feet (1,595 millimeters) wide, and has a 7.874-foot (2,400-millimeter) wheelbase.

For comparison, the Hyundai Venue is the brand's smallest crossover available in the US and is quite a bit bigger than the Casper. It is 13.258 feet (4,041 millimeters) long, 5.808 feet (1,770 millimeters) wide, and has a wheelbase of 8.267 feet (2,520 millimeters).

We actually saw spy shots of the Casper earlier this year while the vehicle was going through testing in the snow. At the time, it was going under the internal designation AX-1. Even wearing camouflage, the big lights in front were clearly a major part of the design.