Here’s the new Santro with the design inspired by Grand i10, would you have preferred it this way?
Hyundai launched the new Santro with much anticipation a few days ago and is one of the best looking affordable hatchbacks money can buy right now. The South Korean automaker has designed the interior having global standards in mind and the presence of Cascading front grille covering the full portion of the bumper is a testament to that.
What if the Santro was designed quite conventionally taking design cues from the Grand i10? Here is a rendering that shows the hatchback’s fog lamps being positioned in its regular place rather than grafted at the top section on either side of the grille assembly under a single housing. We reckon the digitally imagined Santro makes for a sportier exterior compared to the model on sale.
Moreover, the black pillars and black strip running across the length of the sides add quite a character to the new Santro. Hyundai sells the revived nameplate, after being discontinued for four years, with best-in-class three years/one lakh km standard warranty and it gets a slew of segment-first features such as rear AC vents and reverse parking camera.
Based on the K1 platform, the new generation Hyundai Santro gets powered by a 1.1-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 69 PS and 99 Nm peak torque. It is connected to a five-speed manual transmission as standard while a five-speed AMT is offered as optional. Thr CNG version develops 59 PS and 84 Nm and is connected to a five-speed manual gearbox with claimed mileage of 30.5 km/kg.
Priced at Rs. 3.89 lakh for the base DLite petrol model, it goes up to Rs. 5.46 lakh for the Sportz AMT variant. The Santro CNG is retailed in a couple of variants, and they cost Rs. 5.23 lakh and Rs. 5.64 lakh respectively for Magna and Sportz trims (ex-showroom prices). The 2018 Santro competes against Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Tata Tiago and Renault Kwid.
The aforementioned prices are eligible only for first 50,000 customers and Hyundai has already informed that more than 23,500 bookings have been made online. The range-topping models feature seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, MirrorLink and voice commands.