Hyundai giving lots of importance for SUV as the company introduced Kona and Kia Stonic last year before the electric version of Kona
SUVs are the latest trend in automotive industry whether it’s a small crossover or ultra luxury model. Everything is popular in this type of body style which is why manufacturers are developing new SUVs to fulfill gap in their portfolio and ditching old body styles like sedan or hatchback in favour of SUVs.
Hyundai is currently planning to develop a new compact SUV for South Korea. The development is in its early stages as the company is not yet taken on decision on which platform to use. The first option Hyundai is considering is the Picanto platform of Kia and it is similar size to Hyundai’s Grand i10.
Also Read : Kia Picanto Likely To Launch In India By 2019, Showcased in India at Roadshow
The second option Hyundai is looking at is i20 platform to be specific it is i20 Active which is the jacked up version based on regular model. The upcoming SUV will be built at new plant of Hyundai which is coming in Gwangju City. The new plant is a joint venture between Hyundai and Gwangju government as the latter has 80 percent stake in the plant while the rest of it is part of the company.
The new plant need an enormous investment of $0.5 Billion and it is expected to complete construction by 2020-2021. The plant can roll out 1,00,000 vehicles annually and the company want the new SUV to roll out from this plant first. Hyundai doesn’t want to take risk with this model as the success of the joint venture with government depends on this model.
Also Read : India-Bound 2017 Kia Picanto Graces Geneva Motor Show
Globally also Hyundai is giving lots of importance for SUV models as the company introduced Kona and Kia Stonic last year then followed up with electric version of Kona SUV this year. Kia will introduce production version of SP concept next year in India and Hyundai will introduce a new sub compact SUV for Indian market to compete against Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza.