GM Could Sell Cool Korean Vans Wearing American Badges
Chevrolet Staria? It's possible, perhaps even likely, based on signals coming out of Hyundai execs on the implications of the Hyundai-GM deal.
Maybe we spoke too soon. A few years ago, we said the Hyundai Staria was the coolest little minivan we won’t get. But the deal that Hyundai and GM signed last year could bear sweeter fruit than we imagined. The sweet Hyundai Staria van—which is basically a commercial van that has a passenger variant, a lot like the ProMaster, Ford Transit, and so forth—could come to America wearing, most likely, a GM brand’s badge.
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The official announcement back in September was a little thin on specifics, but the companies did pledge to co-develop and co-produce vehicles, internal combustion engines, hydrogen technologies, and electric vehicles. The tie-up may involve the conglomerates sourcing raw materials for batteries and steel for bodies together, likely to achieve greater economies of scale. Hyundai’s vertical integration of its supply chain—the Hyundai Steel Co., which is a massive producer of steel and an affiliate of HMG, comes to mind—could mean a sweetheart deal for GM for co-produced products.
But the good stuff came in a recent conference call to discuss the latest implications of the deal. As Reuters reports, Hyundai CFO Lee Seung Jo told analysts, “We are considering re-badging our commercial EVs and supplying GM... The deal will pave the way for our entry into the North American commercial vehicle market.”
Of Hyundai’s commercial products, the relatively new and attractively styled Staria and the upcoming Kia PBV series of electric vans seem like vehicles that could sell here. In fact, the PV5 is said to be on track for U.S. sales late this year or early in 2025, provided tariffs or a trade war don’t derail those plans. A tie-up with GM may help, particularly if it increases the U.S. content of the vehicles. Hyundai’s supply network and GM’s American production facilities and supplier chain could make all of this more likely to survive the automotive industry’s uncertainty as the new administration signals drastic changes in its automotive, trade, and manufacturing policies.
If we get the cool-looking internal combustion and hybrid Staria van, as well as the Kia PBV vehicles and their EV powertrains, to compliment the larger and slower-selling BrightDrop (now Chevrolet BrightDrop) vans, all the better. After all, doesn’t it seem like GM could use a smaller van than the BrightDrops, but more modern than the positively ancient Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans? We think so.
Like a lot of the other staffers here, Alex Kierstein took the hard way to get to car writing. Although he always loved cars, he wasn’t sure a career in automotive media could possibly pan out. So, after an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Washington, he headed to law school. To be clear, it sucked. After a lot of false starts, and with little else to lose, he got a job at Turn 10 Studios supporting the Forza 4 and Forza Horizon 1 launches. The friendships made there led to a job at a major automotive publication in Michigan, and after a few years to MotorTrend. He lives in the Seattle area with a small but scruffy fleet of great vehicles, including a V-8 4Runner and a C5 Corvette, and he also dabbles in scruffy vintage watches and film cameras.
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