A few years ago, an in-house electrified replacement for GM’s venerable Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana cargo fans felt inevitable. Now, it seems that plans have changed a bit. Reuters reports that Hyundai and General Motors are working out an agreement that would see Hyundai electric commercial vehicles making it to North America under GM branding, and at least one of the vehicles that could make it our way seems pretty neat. As Reuters wrote:
“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,” Hyundai Chief Financial Officer Lee Seung Jo said on an analyst call.
If the two automakers pull this off, it would be the latest event in a phenomenon I like to call van consolidation. With Ford and Volkswagen making vans for each other in Europe and Stellantis making vans for Toyota, the world of vans has grown a bit less diverse over the years.
Also, to anyone watching GM’s BrightDrop vans with interest, outsourcing a potential Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana replacement to Hyundai sounds a bit odd at first glance. With the Ultium platform already here, GM has the underlying architecture to develop its own electric vans, but cost and lead times are definitely concerns. With the slow scaling of BrightDrop and some serious questions about emissions standards hanging in the air, outsourcing something for now seems like it could be a sensible play.
So, if GM and Hyundai end up reaching an agreement, what vehicles could we end up seeing in North America? Well, the big one that’s already being badged as another automaker’s van in Europe is the ST1, and it looks pretty intriguing. It all starts with the cab of the Staria, Hyundai’s funky minimalist combustion-powered cargo and passenger van that we don’t get over here. From there, things get abruptly chopped off behind where the driver and front passenger sit because the ST1 is designed as a chassis cab first, the thinking being that modular cargo areas could be added as needed.
At launch, Hyundai showed off both a traditional van-style cargo enclosure with dual sliding doors and a refrigerated cargo area perfect for meats and fish. Both enclosures are nicely tapered for aerodynamic purposes, but with a height of 66.9 inches, they aren’t quite tall enough to stand up in. Still, something in between the cargo height of a Chevrolet Express and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a useful niche, and enclosures aren’t the only things you can put on the back of an ST1. How about a flatbed, or a dump bed? The beauty of a chassis cab is that it’s pretty versatile.
Plus, the Hyundai ST1 isn’t some sort of compact van either. At 221.5 inches long and 79.3 inches wide it’s about the same size as a standard wheelbase Chevrolet Express. The big differences come in the form of a two-inch longer wheelbase and a six-inch taller roofline, the latter of which could be a little bit challenging in height-restricted urban environments like parking garages.
As for motivation, the Hyundai ST1 is closer in layout to Ram’s electric Promaster van than Ford’s e-Transit, with a 215-horsepower electric motor driving the front wheels. While front-wheel-drive should make for a lower cargo floor than what’s achievable in a rear-wheel-drive van, the more cargo you load into the vehicle, the more the weight distribution shifts away from the drive wheels. At the same time, a 76.1 kWh NMC lithium-ion battery pack makes for a WLTP range of between 185 and 197 miles, making this more of a local market service vehicle than a distance hauler.
However, taking care of in-city deliveries is exactly what electric vans are best at, fixed routes with a low average speed and time at the depot overnight to recharge on Level 2 AC power. The big difference with the ST1 over most electric vans is that if routes are longer and charging quickly over lunch is necessary, its 800-volt architecture can take advantage of 350 kW DC fast chargers to juice up in a jiffy.
Let’s back up a second to where I mentioned that the Hyundai ST1 has been rebadged before. Italian commercial vehicle brand Iveco is selling the ST1 as the eMoovy in Europe, and guess what? It still looks like an ST1, which means it still looks funky. If a potential GM rebrand runs along these lines, it should make the streets of America more interesting.
While nothing’s set in stone yet, GM pulling a steamed hams with the Hyundai ST1 sounds like a neat proposition. Plus, it could open up a door for other Hyundai commercial vehicles. Imagine if you could buy a Staria camper van in America. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but instead just hope for the best.
(Photo credits: Hyundai, Iveco)
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With the Transit, Promaster, and Sprinter available for sale, the only people buying Express vans are Luddites who lament that you cannot buy the 1972 G20 Chevy van anymore. If the current alternatives to the Express haven’t convinced them by now, I don’t think this Hyundai will suddenly enlighten them.
Also, a good portion of van sales are passenger vans. Obviously a shuttle van type box on the back might work, but is there really a mass market for this?
Listen here, Bucko. We will not stand for this Express libel. It’s the same because it works, but it’s also not the same because it has a modern 8-speed auto and an optional 6.6l L8T engine, not your daddy’s 4l60e.
I rode in a Hyundai Staria as a passenger van in Peru. Despite basic fleet-spec, it felt like the future. Spacious interior, easy entry, fantastic sight lines, and a sharp impression in traffic. I think the full Staria lineup could do quite well on North American roads- Hyundai offers the functionality of the full-size euro vans, but with much more approachable packaging.
As far as replacing the Express, GM has really put themselves in a pickle. Im not surprised they’re shopping for a hold-over. As meme-worthy as it is selling a 30 year old product, Chevy should have started producing a ‘modern’ low-floor van at least a decade ago. They really need a van that can be sold as both ICE (eventually hybrid) and electric NOW, and neither Express or Ultium can provide.
Once again, I believe Ford made the pragmatic choice to simply electrify their existing F150 and Transit. They may not offer the ultimate in electric range, but they were first to market, and entirely adequate considering the limitations of our current battery technology. GM’s Ultium trucks may have better range, but they cost and weigh as much as the sun. Plus, Ford still has the option to roll out a Transit Hybrid, which will allow them to claim a fully-electrified van lineup- All on a pre-existing 10 year old platform.
A wise lesson in updating your products at least every 15 years, and not letting perfect be the enemy of good.
I read it as STI and thought of something else altogether…
What’s that sucking sound? The Dustbuster is back, baby!
Let’s see the new Lumina APV!
My brother recently bought a diesel Staria and my nephew has one as a company vehicle, both of them are very impressed with their vans. The Hyundai predecessor, the iLoad, or iMax for the passenger version, are quite popular but the Staria is major step up on them.This is in the land Down Under.
Delightfully devilish GM…
I mean, it’s not that hard – bring in a Silverado EV and an Express into a dilapidated warehouse conveniently filled with scrap metal and a welder, cue the A-Team music, and start the montage.
Two words, Chicken Tax. Unless/until Hyundai can build them here, the tariffs, both old and new, will probably make importing them from South Korea non-competitive. VW was the last to come close, by importing their vans as “station wagons” and “campers”, but not as work trucks.
I just don’t think it’ll look right when someone rattle bombs “Free Candy” on the side
How many times have GM held hands with an offshore company with many promises and a couple of years down the road, when situations changed, kicked the agreement to the curb and left the buyers with orphans. I know the former “big three” have all done this, but the General is truly outstanding at it, and has the most diverse list of former partners.
…so…can we please petition them to let us get the Staria in ICE and/or Hybrid awesome minivan version also? 😀
Made In Detroit stickers will be on them in 5….4….
I’m pretty sure we’d freak out like Italy did over Italian flag stickers on Fiats from Morocco, that seems to be how we operate now
Detroit: Become Hyundai
EXPRESS FOREVER EXPRESS ALWAYS. I’m going to be royally pissed if I can’t teleport to the Chevrolet dealer and buy a brand new Express with the same cat-eye face and a 4.3 V6 in 2045
God’s perfect vehicle
You’re goddamn right it is. What other vehicle has been available with both an 8.1 liter big block, AND a 2.8 turbo 4 diesel?
Okay, but I’m also excited what they’ll have as the optional larger engine. If they have a 6.6l L8T optional now, I’m salivating at future possibilities.
*fish*is*meat*
That is all.
Not during Lent it isn’t
In the ca. 16th century in (what is now) Venezuela, the church declared that the chiguire (capybara) was a fish, for Lenten purposes. Clearly they cannot be trusted.
The church also says a magic dude turned water into wine, and he rose from the dead, and that god created woman from a man’s rib… saying a large rodent is actually a fish seems like a rather small declaration by comparison.
I mean, it’s all a zombie cult. Leaving us back at fish is meat.
When i was young, the church made muskrat fish for lenten fasting in the downriver communities of Detroit. (well, they granted a dispensation) At the time i was less food-curious, and very happy i lived in the city and could count on Arthur Treacher’s.
Seems like a weird and lazy move from GM (not that they’re not known for that) since the ST1 is a completely different offering from the Express and I have a feeling it won’t really slot-in as well for the folks who buy the Chevy and GMC vans because they’re cheap as chips and you can find replacement doors in the junkyard from a 20 year old model. Or maybe they’ll start selling these in urban markets and keep the Express around anyway for Middle America.
An Express starts at $41,800 (on the builder, the cheapest I can get one is $43,695). Not expensive, but not what I would call cheap as chips.
Yikes, I stand corrected. You’d think for as long as it’s been in production it’d start in the low to mid $30ks by this point considering Toyota can sell their old cabover Hiace for $29k in select African markets, but I guess local labor there is much cheaper. Still, the Express manages to undercut the Ram by $3k and the Transit by $5k.
I like the styling of the Staria. Nice clean and well proportioned. This example, however, has issues. Mainly the front and rear bumpers. Having those front lights low and vulnerable like that and the pretty nonexistent rear bumper is terrible for an urban delivery van. These should be built like battering rams.
Recently I watched a delivery Transit pull up to a loading dock. The the last dock was blocked by a dumpster. The driver just drove nose in and pushed the dumpster away then pulled out, turned around and backed in. That’s the life you have to build these vehicles for.
Not disagreeing with you about the front and its low headlights, but the back looks like its fully surrounded by soft bumper material.
Once I had to move a large shed and pushed it with my Chevy Express. It was on bare ground so I couldn’t just pull up to it and push or my wheels would spin. So I strapped a pallet to my grille, screwed a pallet to the wooden shed and slammed them into each other, stopping periodically to move the blocks it sat on and to shim it to stay level. Neither the van nor the shed suffered any damage and the garage window was no longer blocked so I could put in a window AC and wrench in comfort. Another triumph for the Express.
Hyundai needs to sell the Staria here
In my mind, without the mention of its size, it would have seemed like it’d be closer to a City Express/Nissan NV200 followup.
Still, seems like it could be a win-win…GM once again can avoid making a van of their own, and Hyundai can expand production of their commercial vehicles by way of an existing network/distributor.
I though GM dropped the Ultium Battery thing?
They dropped the name ‘Ultium’ but the architecture is still underneath the Brightdrop, the Hummer, the *iq Cadillacs, the Chevy EVs…
The average height of Korean men is 67” and women is 62”, so a 66.9” height provides standing room for around 75% of Koreans. With a bit of stooping it’s likely almost 90%.
And the interior height of an express van is MUCH less than 66 inches.
“With the slow scaling of BrightDrop and some serious questions about emissions standards hanging in the air, outsourcing something for now seems like it could be a sensible play.”
There isn’t that much of a question about emissions standards. Standards won’t get tighter in the USA for the next 4 years… and maaaybe get relaxed a little over that time period. But after that time period? Watch out.
Plus standards will continue to get tighter just about everywhere else… particularly in the largest car market in the world… which is China.
So the truly sensible long-term play is to carry on developing their own BEV tech. Developing and selling their own BEV tech, in my view, is as important as having and selling their own V8 engines in the past.
If GM wants to continue being one of the world’s largest automakers, that’s what they will do. If they don’t, I predict they will continue to shrink and eventually become a small-ish regional car maker that was done in by a lack of long term planning.
And as I understand it, the BrightDrop vans are great delivery vehicles and the tech/platform could be used for so much more.
The question here is whether Chevy wants to spend a ton of time, capital, and energy crash-developing a short-term-fix EV van in the US (either as a replacement for the Express or to be sold alongside it) or would they rather focus on their next-generation van and platform which could mature over a few years.
The crash testing aspect of it is a good point, as the Staria is not available for sale in North America yet.
I’d guess the costs to bring any deficiencies up to NHTSA standard would be minimal in comparison to new platform development.
Oh I didn’t mean crash testing, though that’s a good point. I meant a ‘crash program’ – one that is done as fast as possible, regardless of expense or consequences. It’s likely that building a near-term low-floor van to compete with the Ford Transit or Ram ProMaster would delay any true Express replacement.
Crash testing commercial vans! Oh, that’s a funny one. That’s still not mandated at all. You take your life in your hands when you get into even a modern passenger Express or Transit
like god intendedbeyond seat belts and an airbag for the front two. You know, as a treat.“crash-developing a short-term-fix EV van in the US”
I don’t think that’s necessary. They have the Brightdrop already. Take it and scale it down.
And keep selling the old Express vans as long as people are buying them. Maybe extend their life by doing a hybrid version.
I would say GM’s activities over the past 15-16 years show that they very clearly don’t have any real concern about remaining one of the world’s largest automakers.
It’s too bad they don’t just offer the whole Staria on an electric platform as well.
If they’re spending the money to federalize the ST1, I’m almost wondering why they don’t also import the Staria itself as a Chevy Van — the V6 and the Turbo-i4-PHEV powertrains it comes with are already 50-state-emissions certified because they’re both used in the Sorrento.
Maybe chicken tax/getting around it? If they plan to set up final assembly somewhere over here (other tariffs TBD), easier and/or less work to manage with just the electric version?
Yeah, I could see them building this at Hyundai’s GA plant to soak up some extra capacity there (and Hyundai/Kia would love for their $6bn investment to have some insulation from any downsides).
The Georgia plant is not set up to build ICE vehicles at all.
They could build it in the US if they wanted to. It sits on the previous generation Santa Fe platform. However, if they are already at or near production capacity in the US then why would they bother for what would likely be a comparatively low volume vehicle.
Now that the Transit Connect loophole is closed, it’d have to be CKD imported. Which is an easier production line to set up, especially at low volumes.
‘Cause like apprentices are saying there
Cheaper white vans must be bought somewhere
They woke up and made a venture plan
We’re gonna love their new Hyundai van — and that’s all right with me.