In an event organized by Hyundai to celebrate their 20th anniversary, apart from the AH2 hatchback announcement which is expected to make ground by the end of this year. Hyundai CEO also confirmed 8 new car launches by the year 2020.
The first car to grace the launchpad will be the new Santro. The car is already undergoing active road tests in India and is slated to launch before Diwali and will go head on with the Maruti Suzuki Celerio, and Tata Tiago. The hatchback will be underpinned by the HA platform which also underpinned the now discontinued i10 hatchback. The new Santro hatchback will be powered by a 1.1-litre petrol which also powered the i10 as well. The powertrain will be mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and also AMT transmission which will be known as Smart Auto.
Hyundai is also slated to bring the new Kona EV which will come into the Indian market via the Completely Knocked Down route (CKD). The electric SUV will be launched in 2019 and will be priced at around Rs 25 lakh. The Kona EV will be powered by 39.2 kWh battery pack which will provide a 300km range. Power output is 134bhp and 395Nm and goes from zero to 100 in 9.7 secs all the way to 155kmph.
Hyundai has also been testing out the Carlino subcompact SUV which made its debut at the 2016 Auto Expo. Once launched, the Carlino will go head on with the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, and the Tata Nexon. The pricing will be around Rs 7-9.5 lakh and has been codenamed HND14. The Carlino SUV will be offered in both petrol and diesel engines. The Carlino is based on the Elite i20 platform with it shares a number of features and will sit under the Creta once launched.
Hyundai is also planning to bring the updated Tucson to the Indian market. The upcoming Tucson was spotted testing in Korea with launch scheduled for early 2019. The Tucson will rival the Jeep Compass and the VW Tiguan in the Indian market and will get a number of updates – exterior and interior. The Tucson will be powered by the all-new 1.6-litre diesel engine which churns out 115bhp and will be mated to a 6-speed manual transmission or 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. AWD will also be an option.
Another vehicle in the line of change will be the Hyundai Elantra facelift which will be coming to the Indian market sometime before 2020. Once launched officially, the Elantra will stand against rivals like the Toyota Corolla Altis and the Skoda Octavia.
The Hyundai Santa Fe is also on the launch timescale. The Santa Fe second gen was discontinued owing to poor sales. However, in recent spy shots the Santa Fe is slated to sport an updated design based on the Kona – Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design language with signature cascading grille and slim headlamps, LED DRLs and headlamps and LED tail lamps as well. Upon launch, it will go head on with the Ford Endeavour, Toyota Fortuner, and the Skoda Kodiaq.