A mini Staria! 2023 Hyundai Stargazer aims high as the newest pint-sized people mover from Korea, but will it come to Australia?

Hyundai has revealed a new sub-Staria people mover for international markets called the Stargazer, but don’t expect the futuristic seven-seater to grace Australian showrooms.

The brand’s local division has currently ruled out the new model, and with it targeting emerging South-East Asian markets like Indonesia, it’s right-hand-drive availability and safety technologies could be hurdles.

Designed to take on the Mitsubishi Xpander, the Stargazer measures 4460mm long, 1780mm wide, 1690mm tall and has a 2780mm wheelbase, which makes it shorter and narrower than a Mazda CX-5 – though it has a longer wheelbase.

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The boxy, upright design however, can accommodate seven passengers, as well as 200 litres of cargo volume, (expanding to 585L with the third-row seats folded flat).

The Stargazer features Hyundai’s new design language as seen on the Staria, Tucson and facelifted Palisade, and sports a slim headlight design, prominent front grille, high shoulder line and TIE-Fighter-like tail-light signature.

Inside, the new Hyundai model has seating for six (optional) or seven, back-seat tables, a wireless smartphone charger, 4.2-inch digital instrument cluster and an 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with phone connectivity.

Wheel sizes also start at 15 inches and expand to 16 inches in higher-spec grades.

For safety, the Stargazer comes with forward collision warning, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring.

Powering the Stargazer is a 1.5-litre petrol engine, punching out 86kW/145Nm to the front axle via a six-speed manual or continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Australia’s people mover market, which skews much larger in size than the Stargazer, is looking increasingly lonely with the recent discontinuation of the Honda Odyssey and LDV G10.

This leaves the Kia Carnival (which has the lion’s share of volume on 3857 new registrations so far in 2022), Hyundai Staria and Volkswagen Multivan to duke it out in the shrinking segment.

However, there are options for those that want spacious seven-seater with a smaller footprint, with the Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail and Honda CR-V mid-size SUVs offered with third-row seating on some variants, as well as the Peugeot 5008.