One of the hottest segments nowadays is the subcompact-MPV segment, and with the popularity of SUVs in the country, it was only a matter of time until carmakers decided to turn their small MPVs into crossovers with SUV-inspired styling cues. The newest small people-mover to reach our shores is Hyundai’s Stargazer. At the moment, the Korean carmaker’s MPV hasn’t sprouted a crossover variant, but this could possibly change soon.
Last month the Korean carmaker filed the ‘Stargazer X’ name in the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. This variant name could mean anything, but ‘X’ does sound like a letter or suffix you’d attach to a crossover. Since I’ve always wanted to do a crossover version of the Stargazer, I decided that this should be the next vehicle to render.
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The nice thing about the Stargazer is it wears basically the same design language with sharp chiseled sides as its siblings, and that includes SUVs. Up front, the lower bumper features black cladding and a redesigned lower grille and faux skid plate. Moving to the side, it features black cladding and wheel arch flares inspired by the Tucson and the all-new Kona. To add a bit of contrast, a silver section was added to the rocker panel.
The dark plastic cladding continues on the lower portion of the rear bumper. A faux rear skid plate with a simulated grille mirrors the front styling. As part of the ‘crossover package,’ I gave it standard roof rails. I decided not to give it radical styling changes since it’s not a standalone model. The sheet metal would most likely stay the same as the regular Stargazer with most of the exterior body changes being limited to the plastic bits.
Our imagined Stargazer X crossover measures 4,475mm long, 1,800mm wide, and 1,715mm tall, excluding the roof rails. This makes the SUV-themed people mover 15mm longer, 20mm wider, and 20mm taller than the regular Stargazer MPV. As expected, its ground clearance is now 205mm, a 20mm increase over the regular variant. It comes standard with two-tone 17-inch alloy wheels shod with 205/50 R17 tires.
Our fictional Stargazer X would retain the regular MPV’s 113hp 1.5-liter gasoline mill and Intelligent Variable Transmission. This powertrain package is pretty much on par with what other small crossover-ized MPVs offer.
If Hyundai put this crossover Stargazer into production, would you consider it over the Xpander Cross and Veloz? Let us know in the comments.
