Hyundai Staria Kinder Debuts As World's Best Looking School Bus

Kids in South Korea will soon be able to arrive in school in style in the Hyundai Staria Kinder school bus. Kinder is a German word that translates to "children."

The outside takes the standard Staria and adds light bars to the front and rear of the roof. There's also a tiny, swing-out stop sign near the driver's door. The whole exterior is in a high-visibility shade of yellow.

Inside, the van is available with 11 or 15 seats. All of the seatbelts are height adjustable so that they can fit different sizes of kids. Plus, a seatbelt minder system tells the driver whether the children are wearing the safety harness.

The Hyundai Staria Kinder comes loaded with safety features. There's front collision avoidance assist, lane-keep assist, blind-spot collision avoidance, and rear cross-traffic collision prevention.

Hyundai didn't specify the powertrain for the Staria Kinder. In Europe, the van is available with a 2.2-liter turbodiesel engine making 175 horsepower (131 kilowatts) and 318 pound-feet (431 Newton-meters) of torque. There's also a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter, gas-fueled mill with 268 hp (200 kW) and 244 lb-ft (331 Nm). A six-speed manual and eight-speed automatic gearbox are available.

The 11-seat Staria Kinder costs 34.78 million won ($29,103 at current exchange rates). The 15-seat version goes for 37.41 million won (31,303). Hyundai says that with subsidies the actual price can be as low as 20 million won ($16,735).

 Hyundai is creating a whole range of Staria models. There's also the Load model panel van. It's available in two- or five-seat layouts and a rear with either a hatchback or two doors. Inside, there's up to 174.22 cubic feet (4,935 liters) of cargo space, which is enough room to handle three European-sized palettes.

The company also intends to introduce a camping-focused model