Hyundai’s wild Staria van has arrived in New Zealand, and the local arm has revealed some juicy details.

The Staria is, arguably, the coolest van ever to grace our shores, with properly futuristic styling. The front is simple, yet striking with its horizontal daytime running lights that stretch across the width of the vehicle, while the wide grille with low-set headlamps positioned on each side add to the unconventional look.

The higher-spec Limited model goes even further, with a unique mesh grille, a chrome line around the cube-type, full-LED headlamps as well as the tinted brass chrome applied to the Hyundai emblem on the front, wheels, side mirrors and door handles to “highlight the vehicle’s sophisticated and high-end styling.”

On the inside, the “driver-focused cockpit” keeps the futuristic high-tech theme going with a 10.25-inch front display screen, a centre fascia touchscreen and a button-type electronic shift lever.

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Hyundai says the Staria is based on the same platform as the Santa Fe SUV, which gives the van “car-like handling, ride and refinement.”

It gets the same 2.2-litre turbo diesel producing 430Nm and around 130kW as in the Santa Fe as well, powering front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions. The diesel engine is the only powertrain option at launch.

Eco-friendly Staria variants will arrive “in the coming years”, with no further information on what that means.

Staria will take over from both iMax and iLoad in Hyundai’s line-up, with the commercial Load variant available in either two-seat window or panel van or five-seat crew van configurations. It can only be had as a front-wheel drive model with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission. The passenger Staria only gets the automatic.

Passenger Starias will be available in a few trim levels, include a Limited model that gets leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, power-operated smart sliding side doors and a power tailgate with walk-away function. There’s also a smart key with push button and remote start, a blind-spot view monitor (BVM), surround view monitor (SVM) and a rear passenger view monitor.

The people mover can seat as many as eight, depending on spec.

Standard on the entry model is a wireless smartphone charger, five USB charging ports, no fewer than 16 cupholders, a 4.2-inch colour TFT driver information display, an 8-inch infotainment touchscreen, and adaptive cruise control.

There are also standard forward collision avoidance-assist, blind spot collision avoidance-assist and rear cross-traffic collision-avoidance assist systems.

Load versions come exclusively with steel wheels, power windows and mirrors, wireless smartphone charging and “most” of the people-mover’s safety features. It’s unclear what Load misses out on.

The two-seater Staria Load will be able to swallow three Euro pallets thanks to its almost 5000 litres of cargo space.

Towing is rated at 2500kg capacity, while both versions can handle more than 1070kg in payload, with a slight advantage going to the five-seater (1078kg vs 1072kg). The Load variant has sliding doors on both sides and a choice of lift-back or twin-swing rear door arrangement.

Pricing starts at $59,990 for the manual Load or $62,990 for the automatic, representing an $8k price hike over the outgoing iLoad.

Meanwhile, the eight-seater Staria costs $69,990 for the base model or $85,990 for the Limited. That’s at least $10k more than the single iMax version on Hyundai’s website, which is currently selling for $59,990.