The words track-ready and city car rarely appear in the same sentence, yet Hyundai’s skunkworks team has put together a concept that bridges both worlds, the Insteroid. We saw the Inster-based show car at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show and were genuinely stunned by its radical design and extensive modifications.
Viewing it in person, we found that the design inspiration comes from racing video games. The Hyundai Insteroid features a lowered suspension and widened wheel arches with active louvres on the top and side openings.
We noticed an aggressive front splitter, large air vents in the bonnet, 21-inch track-optimised wheels wrapped in special Pirelli P Zero tyres made in Breuberg, Germany, slightly upward-swinging front doors, a prominent rear diffuser, a massive rear wing, and a hood scoop.
Besides the surprisingly wide wheel arches and large rear wing, what truly intrigued us was Hyundai’s attention to detail. For instance, we noticed that the Inster’s pixel theme repeated across the car, including in the tyre tread pattern.
The stripped-down interior of the Hyundai Insteroid is equally track-focused, equipped with a roll cage, Sparco bucket seats, racing pedals, a racing steering wheel with physical controls for a boost function and drive modes, a drift handbrake, and a special instrument cluster with separate gauges.
We also noticed a bass-heavy sound system with two large woofers integrated into the rear of the cabin, a street-scene-inspired touch that shows Hyundai wasn’t solely chasing weight reduction during this build.
Hyundai hasn’t revealed what’s powering the Insteroid, but we are fairly confident that it’s not the Inster’s single permanent magnet synchronous motor producing 115 bhp and 147 Nm of torque.
The concept serves as a platform for Hyundai’s engineers and designers to experiment, test ideas, and push their limits, while also generating excitement around the already popular Inster. The company hasn’t indicated any plans to put a production version on the market.
The Hyundai Inster’s prices start at £23,505 in the UK, where it has quickly become the brand’s second highest-selling EV after the Kona Electric since the Inster’s arrival in May 2025.
