The Hyundai Staria has touched down in Australia with a single, eight-seat layout but the company is eyeing options available overseas.
That includes the so-called ‘Lounge’ option, prominently featured during the global reveal of Hyundai’s new people mover.
This replaces the second-row bench with two individual reclining captain’s chairs, with three-stage heating and ventilation, two-way backrest and seat cushion, and a four-way leg rest.
“We are exploring some options for the future but can’t confirm any timings or exact details yet,” said Hyundai Australia product general manager Andrew Tuitahi.
“We are looking at things like the Staria Lounge which has launched overseas with the captain’s chairs second row as maybe being an option that we can bring in, subject to some material changes being made to the configuration.”
The Staria is also available with nine- and 11-seat options overseas, with the nine-seat option featuring second-row seats that can swivel 180 degrees to face the third row.
“Those particular seating configurations, as they’re currently set up, don’t meet some of the Australian design regulations so we’re currently sitting with the eight-seat option that we have at the moment,” said Mr Tuitahi.
While similarly-priced rivals like the Honda Odyssey offer second-row captain’s chairs, you need to step up to the likes of the Toyota Granvia VX, priced at $75,603 before on-road costs to get heated captain’s chairs.
Staria Highlander
Only the Mercedes-Benz V250d, priced at $98,860 before on-roads, is available with optional heated and ventilated second-row captain’s chairs.
In the interim, the Staria will offer only second- and third-row benches, like its mechanically related rival, the Kia Carnival.
The so-called ‘Lounge’ seven-seat option was previewed in the Korean-market Staria Premium, which also features unique rose-gold trim on the grille and wheels.
Pictured: Hyundai Staria Premium (overseas model)
While we receive a top-spec Highlander with features like heated and ventilated front seats and dual sunroofs, it uses the same 18-inch alloy wheels as the base and Elite grades.
“We’ve decided to standardise the 18-inch wheel for the Staria people mover,” said Mr Tuitahi.
“We think it gives the car its best possible appearance, there’s currently no other 18-inch wheel design available so, in standardising the larger size, it meant we went with a single wheel across all trims.”
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