Hyundai Staria becomes world’s strangest school bus

Most rightly predicted that the angry looking new BMW M3 and M4 would divide the motoring world. Most also thought that electric utes would be a hot-button topic this year, too. But few could’ve predicted that one of the most talked about new vehicles of 2021 would be a van.

But, it’s true (at least in the case of our little Facebook page). The futuristic, sci-fi Hyundai Staria has been one of the most discussed new vehicles of the year thus far thanks to its off-the-wall Tron-like styling. 

It’s inevitable that, not unlike the Nissan S-Cargo of the late 1980s, the Staria is likely to gain popularity as a company and fleet vehicle due to its eye-grabbing looks. This will likely see it drafted by all sorts of businesses wanting a bit of extra exposure. And, maybe even the odd school.

On the topic of the latter, Hyundai has released the Staria’s school-bus iteration, called the Kinder. No, it’s not made out of chocolate and full of cheap toys. Instead, it’s actually fairly handy and packed with interesting tech. 

The 11-seater or 15-seater bus gets a funky pair of roof-mounted light bars, an extending stop sign, and a signature bright yellow paint job. The assault on the retinas continues inside, too, with the yellow and black upholstery. 

Like its road-going equivalent, the Staria Kinder has a fairly packed out active safety equipment list. Most interesting, though, is that Hyundai calls its ‘seat belt adjustment device’. Coming exclusively in the 11-seater variant, this gives each individual occupant the ability to adjust the height of their seat-belt’s sash mounting point so that everyone’s belt fits perfectly. 

Perhaps more interesting still is that the Kinder is powered not by your standard dinosaur juice, but by LPG. This is a choice spurred on by the Korean government’s incentives for low-emission vehicles, including in the commercial sector. 

“The Staria Kinder has implemented the highest level of safety performance by applying a lot of special parts that have passed thorough safety tests. And we expect [passengers to] travel comfortably,” says Hyundai.

You can catch NZ Autocar’s full review of the new Hyundai Staria in our October edition, in stores this week.