Last month, new Hyundai Santro recorded 6,875 units while the main nemesis Wagon R managed to garner 15,661 units
Hyundai introduced the new Santro on October 23 last year to renew the rivalry with wagon R after several years of absence. In response, Maruti Suzuki brought in the third generation wagon R exactly three months later to further spice up the old competition and both the hatchbacks are doing a handy job in the domestic market.
About 8,535 units were sold in October 2018 and the Santro crossed 9,000 mark the following month. In February 2019, a total of 6,875 units and Hyundai has averaged around 7,500 units monthly so far in the last five months. The Wagon R, on the other hand, has got off to a great start as more than 10,000 units were retailed in January.
Last month saw Maruti Suzuki registering 15,661 units of the Wagon R with YoY sales increase of 12 per cent. The new Santro is priced between Rs. 3.89 lakh to Rs. 5.64 lakh (ex-showroom) and it also has export importance as Hyundai target at least 25 per cent of the production from India to be shipped abroad and earlier said to concentrate on selling 9,000 to 10,000 units of the Santro.
Hyundai said more than 23,500 pre-orders were received just ahead of the new Santro’s launch and it led to the new hatchback being sold out for the next three months and bookings were closed temporarily. It uses a 1.1-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine developing 69 PS and 99 Nm torque and is connected to a five-speed manual or the company’s first five-speed AMT.
The CNG model produces 59 PS and 84 Nm and is claimed to return 30.5 km/kg. The Wagon R S-CNG was officially launched less than a week ago with class-leading 33.54 km/kg mileage and is offered only in the 1.0-litre petrol engine.
Based on the lightweight Heartect platform, the latest Wagon R has bigger dimensions with evolutionary exterior changes and a completely revised interior. It is also sold in 1.2-litre K series petrol engine from Swift with manual and AMT choices. The new Wagon R is priced from Rs. 4.19 lakh for the base variant to Rs. 5.69 lakh (ex-showroom) for the range-topping model.