Hyundai Trajet Reviews

In Taylor Swift terms, Hyundai has entered its Fearless Era as it explores bold new design themes that are a major departure from its past.In stark contrast to its humble beginnings, Hyundai is looking to make bolder vehicles, as witnessed by the recently revealed second-generation Palisade. Crucially, the Palisade is dramatically different from the Tucson and Santa Fe, or any other model in the range, as Hyundai pursues a unique design for each of its models. This is opposed to the ‘Russian Doll’ philosophy that many other brands use, which see similar design themes carried over from one model to the next. Interestingly, this more ‘family’ focused design theme is the one pursued by Kia, Hyundai’s sister brand, and in Australia recent years has seen the younger sibling overtake its elder on the sales charts.So, why has Hyundai pursued this very different and deliberately polarising strategy? We were fortunate enough to discuss this with the man in charge, SangYup Lee, Vice President and Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Centre.We spoke immediately after the reveal of the new Palisade and Palisade XRT Pro for the first time outside of South Korea, and Lee used the new family-sized SUV as a way of explaining the brand’s design philosophy.Specifically, he discussed why the Palisade and the similar-sized, but all-electric, Ioniq 9 have almost no visual similarities.“ I think it's a very important question,” Lee said. “Obviously, as I mentioned to you briefly yesterday on Ioniq 9 versus Palisade, the customers are different for a full, dedicated EV versus a traditional ICE and hybrid cars."So we cannot have the same toolbox SUV, so we purposefully have a different direction… where Ioniq 9 is for more like an early adopter and is open for new things.He continued: “Palisade, when you see it, you know it is so easy to understand. It's a toolbox SUV with a lot of premium character, and with the bold DRL (Daytime Running Lights) you can recognize it from a long distance."I'm particularly very proud of the surface DRL, because a lot of DRLs these day, I mean the lamp is a functional piece, but you see a lot of linear DRL."And instead we're doing surface DRL to have a more, like a chunky shape. So you look at it from a long distance, you can instantly notice a Palisade that's coming towards you, which is so important,” he said.Lee highlighted the importance of making a strong visual first impression for each Hyundai model, which is why he and his design teams have opted for a clear differentiation between each model, rather than Kia’s signature look that carries across each of its offerings.“A mid to large SUV is a big face with a bold character, but when you get closer, there's a lot of sophisticated surface treatment,” Lee said.“So what we want to do is like, mainstream, it should be easy to understand, bold yet premium character. So this is our challenge.”He also explained that the different needs of different customers across the various models also plays a major role in Hyundai’s decision to create unique designs.“There are many brands doing the family look… but I always talk to our team, Hyundai is all about customer-centric brand,” he said.“We need to really understand the customer first in order to design. So, I mean, for the Palisade, if you sit inside of the car, it's so comfortable, easy to use, there is no forced area. Everything is all about usability.“I must say, the UX (user experience) is designed this way… because this is a family car. I mean, we are out there, family, parents in a very detailed ."So like, how they drop off kids in the morning, how they pick them up after school hours and how they use a sippy cup, how they use the tailgate and how they use stuff."So it's all about observing customers in order to make it easier, more comfortable, with better design.”

What price do you put on style? If you’re Hyundai, it’s $39,000 (plus on-road costs), which is the starting price of its all-new Inster compact electric vehicle.But while that makes it more expensive than its direct competitors, Hyundai’s global design boss has said that’s a cost the company must pay.SangYup Lee, Vice President and Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Centre, explained that while the brand could have decided to make the Inster cheaper, the priority was to create a lasting first impression to the Hyundai brand for new buyers it hopes to attract.“ This is our challenge,” Lee told CarsGuide. “But at the same time, when it comes to EV of the Year, Inster, that is the gateway car for first-time users, and a lot of young Gen Z players buying this car. So for me, the entry-level car, the first car is so important because a gateway for our product. So we just want to make sure it has a lot of character.”He said the recently revealed Insteroid concept car is an extension of this design philosophy, playing with the idea of fun and youthful design that will try to speak to a new generation of customers - rather than making the cheapest, most-affordable model possible - even if it means standing out from other models in the Hyundai line-up.“Sometimes when you look at it, you have a smile on your face. And then you see in the Insteroid that is our video game car, it's all about ,” Lee explained.“When you look at it, you have a smile on your face. So you don't have to have exactly the same face as Palisade to the Inster. So this is all about, we have to really target our customers. And at the end of it, I must say there's nothing wrong with what other brands do versus what we are doing and the customer will make a decision.  I really believe this is the customer’s decision.”With its $39,000 starting price the Inster is notably more expensive than its nearest rivals, which all happen to be from relatively new Chinese car brands. The BYD Dolphin starts at $29,990 (plus on-road costs), the GWM Ora costs $35,990 drive-away and the MG4 is priced from $37,990 (plus on-road costs).Despite the cheaper prices, Lee has nothing but compliments for his Chinese rivals, but stressed Hyundai has different priorities as a more established carmaker, particularly when it comes to longevity of design and vehicle reliability.“I have a huge respect for Chinese brands because in such a short amount of time, they challenge a lot,” the Hyundai design boss said. “But we are a traditional OEM and we also are taking care of our customers on the fundamental side of it, most important safety."I mean, of course you love to have karaoke inside of a car and everything together, but a car is a form of transportation. You travel with your family, the safety is something you cannot compromise and therefore the usability and all the things, et cetera. And then we are actually adding the value. For the high techs and also connected and everything together. And so this is actually a bit of the priority difference, I would say.“But once again, that’s okay, this is our philosophy, which we believe is a very important philosophy, a customer able to choose at the end of it. Because for me, a brand-new car is cool, but cars on the street are even more important because I see the value of the car when the car has been out there at least five years and parked on the street."Is the car still stable? Is the car still easy to use and doesn't get dated soon? I think those are the very important factors when you design a car.”Fresh from claiming the title of EV of the Year at the World Car of the Year Awards, the Inster is due to launch in Australia by the middle of the year.

You might not have heard of CATL, but you’ll have heard of the brands its electric car batteries are used in: Toyota, Hyundai, Tesla and plenty of others.

It’s started again - the talk about how autonomous cars are just around the corner.But are self-driving cars really going to be with us any time soon? Because it feels as though carmakers have been promising autonomous vehicles for a long time now, yet it seems like we’re still no closer to owning a vehicle that can drive us home or to work.Despite this, many car brands think autonomous vehicles are on our doorstep. Is that true? And if so, do we really want to let them in?Volkswagen’s global CEO of Commercial Vehicles Professor Dr Carsten Intra believes they are indeed imminent. “You think that going from combustion to electrification is a big change?” Dr Carsten asked Australia’s auto media last week at the Volkswagen Multivan launch. “And it is, but going autonomous will change our business. This is coming, it's in front of the door. Not just in 10 or 15 years, it will be sometime tomorrow. We are going through the world and testing our fleets in different cities.”Dr Carsten is referring to the fleet of self-driving ID. Buzz electric vans being tested by Volkswagen through its special autonomous company MOIA.Fitted with autonomous tech for full-self driving (but with a human babysitter on board) VW is testing the ID. Buzzes in the United States and Europe. The fleet has just been to Oslo, Norway for winter testing in snow and ice. The self-driving ID. Buzz has a high level of autonomous ability, level 4 actually, a level down from the fully autonomous Level 5 which doesn’t need a human chaperon. This is the level Volkswagen hopes to reach by 2030. These levels from 1 to 5 are just increasingly sophisticated forms of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Most new cars are at Level 2 and have systems that can take over steering, braking and acceleration.But Level 5, which can handle any situation without driver input, is much more complicated. While it may work in theory or on a closed circuit, what about on the Pacific Highway in Sydney at 8:30am on a Monday?So with 2030 less than five years away and as a journalist who has written story after story as car company after car company has made promise after promise of autonomous vehicles, I can tell you that the chances of fully autonomous cars driving on Australian roads by 2030 are close to zero.Forgive me for being jaded, but the autonomous car dream is and probably will always remain a dream. I wasn’t always so pessimistic about this. Back in 2016 I was very excited to write a story for CarsGuide about Ford’s bold claim that it was so far advanced into mastering autonomous tech that they’d have self-driving cars everywhere by 2021.“Ford will be mass producing vehicles with full autonomy within five years and that means there will be no steering wheels, no gas pedals and no brake pedals - a driver is not going to be required," Ford’s then global chief Mark Fields announced.Well it’s 2025 and these pedal-less, steering wheel-less driverless cars are nowhere to be seen.Ford isn’t the only one. Most car companies in the past 10 years have said they are on the cusp of autonomous breakthroughs from Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Audi to Volvo and Hyundai.Well they used to say that and many companies made bold claims, just like Ford’s, that they, too, would have autonomous cars in just a matter of years. But most of the car manufacturers have gone quiet on the topic of self-driving cars. All except Tesla with its so-called full self-driving function which is very likely just advanced driver assistance and not full self-driving. Actually in recent weeks Tesla has had to re-think what it calls its driving system due to regulatory issues in China.Tesla’s claims of having full-self driving modes 10 years ago probably caused the rest of the industry to suddenly work harder and faster on their own autonomous projects only for all of us to reach this point where we’ve discovered that you can absolutely teach a car to drive, but setting it loose on public roads is going to create a multitude of problems from safety and legal to ethical dilemmas. Besides, Volkswagen isn't the first to have fleets testing in cities. Ride-hailing companies such as Waymo have been working on autonomous tech for years only to run into operational difficulties with cars getting lost or even attacked.Until recently Waymo's fleet of autonomous taxis has operated in just the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin being the main cities where the service can be found. Now Waymo is going further afield to Japan and is using Tokyo as its first location outsided the US to test the autonomous tech.Waymo will have been testing and operating its fleet of autonomous cars for 10 years in 2026. An achievement in itself and while the technology has come far it hasn't been without inicident. There have been cases where Waymo vehicles have malfunctioned or become confused. Two years ago in Phoenix 12 Waymos all turned up in the same street at the same time and caused a traffic jam, while last year in San Francisco a car park being used to hold dozens of Waymo vehicles erupted into chaos as the empty cars began honking at each other for no apparant reason.Hiccups aside it's truly amazing how well Waymo's fleet of electric Jaguar iPace SUVs can navigate through complicated terrain such as hilly San Francisco with its myriad of streets. Waymo has also recently signed a new deal with Chinese carmaker Zeekr to use its electric Mix people mover in 2025.Volkswagen's own testing with its ID. Buzz fleets will indeed add to the advancement of autonomous tech, too.Progress is slow, however, and for good reason - safety, regulations, ethics and the unpredicatability of other road users present huge challenges for a technology that's expected to be as good, if not better, than humans. Volvo is a safety tech pioneer in the auto industry and one of the first to start developing autonomous systems. But in 2023 Volvo Cars CEO and President Jim Rowan made a startling admission: self-driving cars won’t happen anytime soon.  "So first of all, this big myth that there's five different levels of autonomy is nonsense, in my opinion," he said. "You've got two levels of autonomy. One is your hands on the steering wheel. One is your hands off the steering wheel."Can we drive a car fully autonomous? Yes. Does regulation allow that? No. So I think regulation will be the barrier towards full adoption of full AD more than technology," he said.“Driving inside the city when there's schools and roadworks, and there's a lot of change every day, I think that's a long, long way off.”So if the boss of the company which was so far ahead in developing fully autonomous cars has declared the mission more or less over for now, what’s caused Volkswagen to make its autonomous claims? Well, we’ll have to wait and see but I think we’ll be waiting a lot longer before we start seeing.

Hyundai Australia may still be waiting for a ute, but it just got the next best thing - a rugged, Toyota LandCruiser-rivaling SUV.Unveiled overnight at the 2025 New York International Auto Show, the Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro is the most off-road capable model the South Korean brand has ever offered in Australia. Due to launch locally in early 2026 as a fully-fledged member of the new Palisade line-up (rather than an option pack like the Santa Fe XRT), this new model features a raft of off-road-focused enhancements.There’s a unique grille, with a unique lower bumper that incorporates twin, chassis-mounted tow hooks, as well as creating more ground clearance for an improved approach angle of 20.5-degrees. New side skirts and a similar treatment to the rear bumper improve the departure and breakover angles to 22.4 and 18.3 degrees, respectively. Underneath there is a new XRT Pro-exclusive rear electronic limited-slip differential for better off-road capability as well as downhill brake control and new terrain modes for mud, sand and snow. There’s also real-time pitch and roll, compass and elevation displays and a new camera at the front to provide a clear view of the road ahead when you’re off-road and can’t see over the bonnet.However, aside from a ride height increase, to give the Palisade XRT Pro 213mm of ground clearance, the suspension is unchanged from the rest of the Palisade range. This is also partly helped by the new all-terrain tyres that wrap around the 18-inch off-road styled alloy wheels.Under the bonnet the XRT Pro is exclusively available with a 214kW/252Nm 3.5-litre V6 naturally aspirated petrol engine. This is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and Hyundai’s all-wheel-drive system.Speaking at the New York reveal, Olabisi Boyle, Senior Vice President of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy for Hyundai Motor North America, explained the reasoning that went into developing the XRT Pro."The 2026 Palisade XRT Pro is for people doing it all - raising families, chasing goals, showing up every day,” Boyle said.“We built this SUV by putting people first - thinking about real lives, real needs. It’s got space for your crew, capability when the road gets rough, and the kind of comfort, style, and efficiency that proves luxury doesn’t have to come with a luxury price.“We wanted to deliver a vehicle where affordability can meet lifestyle - no matter where off-road you want to go."Hyundai Australia has confirmed other versions of the new Palisade will go on sale in late 2025, starting with the new 192kW hybrid powertrain variant. The XRT Pro will follow soon after, in early 2026, with pricing and final specifications expected to be announced closer to them going on sale.

Hyundai has detailed pricing and specifications for the Inster small electric SUV, as order books officially open around the country.Starting at $39,000 before on-road costs, the Inster is more expensive than Chinese rivals such as the GWM Ora ($35,990 drive-away), MG MG4 ($37,990 before on-road costs) and BYD Dolphin ($29,990 before on-road costs), though it does carry an array of standard equipment in return.At just 3825mm long, 1610mm wide and 1575mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2580mm, the Inster is at least 400mm shorter than its nearest rival, the Ora. That said, it is slightly taller than the MG4 and Dolphin, while it's longer between the wheels than all three.The Inster will arrive in three trims: the entry-level Standard Range, the mid-spec Extended Range and the top-of-the-line Inster Cross.Two battery options will be made available. On the Standard Range that includes a 42kWh lithium-nickle-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery that offers 327km of driving range. Power and torque, meanwhile, are claimed at 71kW/147Nm, with power being sent to the front wheels through a single electric motor mounted to the front axle.A range-wide 120kW DC fast charging capability sees the Inster’s battery replenished from 10 to 80 per cent in 30 minutes, while an AC charge rate of 10.5kW sees a full charge take up to four hours and 35 minutes.The Standard Range will carry 15-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and daytime running lights, rain-sensing wipers, a glossy black radiator grille, silver skid plates on the front and rear and tinted glass across the car.Inside, there is a standard four-seat configuration with a driver’s bench seat. It has six-way manual adjustments and recycled cloth upholstery, while the rear seats can be folded into a 50:50 split.Additionally, there are twin 10.25-inch displays for multimedia and driver’s display functions, single-zone climate control with a heat pump, a three-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel with paddle shifters for regenerative braking, wireless charging, push-button start and vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability.For an additional $3500 and a total price of $42,500 before on-road costs, the middle-of-the-road Extended Range adopts a larger 49kWh NMC battery that increases output to 85kW/147Nm.Total driving range subsequently increases to 360km, while there are 17-inch alloys wheels fitted as standard.It carries the same safety suite as the Standard Range, which includes blind-spot collision-avoidance assist, forward collision-avoidance assist with junction turning, lane-keeping assist, highway driving assist, rear cross-traffic alert and driver attention warning.The flagship Inster Cross utilises the same 49kWh NMC battery as the Extended Range, but adds an additional suite of standard features, taking the total price to $45,000 before on-road costs.Those features include heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, 64-colour ambient lighting, a sunroof with a manual shade, roof rails, Inster Cross-exclusive skid plates and bumpers, a privacy rear door and flat-folding seats.Additional safety technology over its Standard and Extended Range siblings includes a surround-view monitor, parking collision avoidance assist, a blind-spot view monitor and parking sensors.Inster Cross customers can opt for the no-cost Roof Basket Option Pack, which adds a roof basket, a black two-tone roof and a black a-pillar finish. It does, however, reduce range to 293km and mean you’ll lose the sunroof.

Hyundai has shown off a refreshed Ioniq 6 at the Seoul Mobility Show, while teasing the long-awaited N Line and N performance variants.

Hyundai has revealed its second-generation Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell electric SUV, which adopts wild styling elements and promises significant improvements over both the first-generation car, but also over other electric rivals.Now offering 700km of range from a five-minute fill, the second-generation Nexo also has upgraded power outputs for its new fuel-cell and battery, jumping from 135kW to 190kW, while the motor’s peak output is 150kW. This trims the 0-100km/h sprint time to 7.8 seconds from the previous car’s 9.2 seconds.Meanwhile, Euro-spec versions of the Nexo are capable of towing up to 1000kg, and Hyundai has made significant improvements to the hydrogen tank’s temperature management system to optimise range in a variety of seasonal conditions.The styling sticks closely to the 2024 'Initium' concept, sticking to the company’s new 'art of steel' design direction. Like the Santa Fe before it, the new Nexo features a tough front face, with H-style headlight fittings, and a boxy overall visage.Meanwhile, around the rear, the hydrogen SUV has an unorthodox hatch tailgate, which seems as though it is a reference to unusual designs from the past, like the Pontiac Aztek, although the brand says the look not only adds a “sturdy and sophisticated” feel with a “rugged image”, but it also features many aerodynamic improvements compared to the curvy look of the previous model.On top of this, the new Nexo features active noise cancelling for the cabin, as well as noise-absorbing tyres, and a new regenerative braking system which can use navigation data to automatically adjust the amount of motor-based regenerative braking for increased efficiency.Inside, like other recent Hyundai products, the new Nexo features dual 12.3-inch displays for the multimedia screen and digital instrument cluster, alongside a 12-inch head-up display.It also features wireless phone mirroring and dual wireless chargers, while the system itself has over-the-air functionality for system updates, an AI voice assistant, and fuel-cell route planning for the navigation system which takes into account the live status of stations.It also features vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality, allowing it to use its hydrogen power source to provide juice to external devices via household power outlets, even on the exterior of the vehicle, negating the need for a charge port adapter.Other innovations include a built-in dash cam front and rear, a fingerprint sensor, and the option for digital side mirrors in some markets.Hyundai also promises the new Nexo will comply with the highest safety standards, featuring nine airbags, a fully equipped active safety suite and specific protection for the hydrogen tank.A spokesperson for Hyundai Australia confirmed to CarsGuide the Nexo will launch in Australia in the first half of 2026, following on from the current car’s successful trials, primarily focused around a fleet in the ACT.Whether or not the new Nexo will actually be sold to customers rather than be offered exclusively on a fleet trial basis remains to be seen, with the spokesperson confirming the brand was still working through what the launch might look like.In previous comments to CarsGuide the brand’s previous Chief Operating Officer in Australia, John Kett, said the brand would look to use hydrogen vehicles on a community basis where their traits are best suited, and the infrastructure cost was relatively low, as is currently the case with the fleet of Nexos in the ACT.Hyundai is currently operating a successful trial of Xcient hydrogen heavy vehicles in Europe, but its heavy vehicle plan for Australia is yet to materialise.

Does anybody really do April Fools' Day pranks anymore? Apparently so.

Hyundai has launched its latest software and technology platform, calling it a significant step towards becoming a “mobility tech company”. Hyundai’s new software brand is called Pleos and the plans were announced recently at the Pleos 25 developer conference where the Korean giant outlined five key elements of its vision. The first is a proprietary vehicle operating system, an in-house designed-and-owned system the company says will improve vehicle performance.The next was Pleos Connect, which is Hyundai's next-generation infotainment system that will launch in the second quarter of 2026 and be rolled out to millions of vehicles around the world. The third is Pleos Playground. which is designed to encourage outside developers to produce apps that can be downloaded by owners and used in their vehicles. Fourth is what the Hyundai Group calls the next Urban Mobility Alliance. This will be introduced as a way for the public and private sectors to partner up to improve autonomous transport. Finally, Hyundai wants to attract companies such as Google, Uber and Samsung to collaborate on developing the new generation of cars, now called 'software-defined vehicles'.President and Head of Hyundai Motor and Kia Advanced Vehicle Platform Division, Chang Song, said Pleos was the start of connected mobility for the Korean group.“In the rapidly changing automotive industry, Hyundai Motor Group has been dedicated to SDV development since 2023. Today, starting with Pleos 25, we are transforming into a company providing software-centered mobility experiences,” Song said.“Our ultimate goal is to achieve Cloud Mobility, where all forms of mobility are connected through software on the cloud, and continuously evolve over time. Pleos serves to create a connected mobility experience expanding from a vehicle to fleets, hardware to software, and ultimately to the entire mobility infrastructure and cities.”Pleos is what Hyundai calls an end-to-end software platform that will integrate vehicle operating systems, infotainment systems, cloud infrastructure, the management of fleets and transportation logistics.Hyundai has long had a vision of being more than just a car company, with connected transportation part of its future plans. In 2020 at the Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, Hyundai announced its future mobility vision which consisted of an urban air mobility transport system called HUB connected by personal air vehicles and ground-based autonomous purpose-built vehicles. In 2021 Hyundai Group bought Boston Dynamics, the cutting-edge robotics company.The company is also investing heavily in alternative fuels such as hydrogen. Last year Hyundai provided a preview of its Initium hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle to show its commitment to the fuel's development.