The Insteroid is a one-off, modified Hyundai Inster with a Drift Mode

This is the Insteroid concept: Hyundai’s effort to take its urban-friendly Inster EV and prop it with a tablespoon of amusement and a ladle’s worth of tuner culture. The end product is… predictably wild.

The flared arches add plenty of brawn to the originally petite shape, as does the preposterous rear wing, the sharp front splitter and the new rear diffuser. Oh, and would you look at the size of the air inlets on those side skirts; Hyundai’s really gone to town on the clown-o-meter with this thing.

Other embellishments include track-optimised alloys with different designs at each axle: unusual circle-spokes at the front and deep dishes at the back. The roof scoop is probably the smallest element of the exterior, itself big enough to swallow a dozen Mars bars per second.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it's properly Spartan in there too, but not quite. It’s more… Spartan with a blazer equipped. There's very little out back except for a roll cage, but the front section gets bucket seats and a specialised instrument cluster, likely displaying your roof scoop’s chocolate consumption rate.

Hyundai’s even chucked in an audio kit from Beat House, which looks like the sort of DJ spin table you’d find in a Shoreditch nightclub. 

We’ve no idea what’s powering the Insteroid, but considering it has a Drift Mode and a ‘unique’ sound signature, we’re guessing it’s something more substantial than the 115bhp e-motor and 49kWh battery found in the standard car. Guys, just give it the Ioniq 5 N powertrain and call it a day already.

At this point, you’re probably wondering why Hyundai has done all this for a one-off concept. And the answer is simple: it wants to inspire the next generation of tuners and modifiers. Someone’s got to be the Hironao Yokomaku (aka Mr VeilSide) of the electric era, after all.

Still, when Renault came out with the (very drifty) R5 Turbo 3E concept a few years ago, at least it went to the trouble of actually building it. Come on Hyundai, you're not going to lose face like that are you?