New Hyundai Santro India launch likely on October 23 and it’s expected to come with several standard safety features
Hyundai announced a naming competition called ‘Hyundai Naamkaran’ for its upcoming small hatchback last month and as expected the Santro name has emerged as the crowd favourite. The Korean auto major will revive the Santro nameplate with its new tall-hatch scheduled to debut on October 23 and its pre-bookings will likely begin on the 10th of October.
Following a discontinuation in 2014, Hyundai has eagerly been anticipated to bring back the name that laid the foundation to become the second largest carmaker in the country. With Eon enduring not-so-impressive sales currently, the new hatchback could act as its replacement but will be positioned above it with packed features, spacious cabin and an appealing exterior incorporating latest design language.
It will potentially become the smallest Hyundai to adorn the now-signature Cascading front grille and has a compact profile. Sticking by the original Santro’s tradition, it is termed as a “Contemporary Family Car” with tallboy design. Based on the same HA platform as the old i10, Hyundai has made necessary changes to make it stiffer and meet the upcoming stringent safety standards.
It will likely offer safety features like dual front airbags, seatbelt reminder, speed warning system, speed sensing door lock and reverse parking sensors as standard. The new Santro is also the first Hyundai to come equipped with an optional ‘Smart Auto’ AMT transmission while a five-speed manual will be a standard offing.
The 1.1-litre EPSILON four-cylinder petrol engine from previous i10 is updated to comply with BSVI emission regulations coming into effect from April 2020. The 2019 Hyundai Santro will be looking to replicate the success of its predecessor that sold more than one million units locally and its launch will act as a celebration of two decades since the original Santro broke into the Indian scenes.
The updated powertrain should be good enough to return above 22 kmpl and just as one of its rivals Maruti Suzuki Celerio, a CNG kit could be offered as well. The top-end variants will have a large touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, reversing camera, automatic AC, electrically adjustable ORVMs and steering mounted controls.
Hyundai is expected to price the new Santro in the region between Rs. 4 lakh and Rs. 5.5 lakh (ex-showroom). With a feature packed interior, it will also compete against the likes of top-selling Tata Tiago, Maruti Suzuki Wagon R and Renault Kwid.