Hyundai Santro set for a return in 2018

Santro is the first car Hyundai launched in India, back in the late 90s. The car became the face of Hyundai India. Sadly, after 16 years in service, without major upgrade, Hyundai decided to stop production of Santro.

This was a hard decision taken by Hyundai as the car was still clocking decent sales number of 3,000 units. But what it was also doing – eating into the limited production capacity of Hyundai India.

With new generation cars like Elite i20, Grand i10, Xcent on sale, which were not only more profitable, but were also more in demand, Hyundai India were left with no other choice but to discontinue the Santro from Indian market.

For now, Eon is the smallest car on sale by Hyundai. But its sales are nowhere close to that of rivals Maruti Alto or newly launched Renault Kwid. In order to increase their presence in the entry-level market, Hyundai is working on re-launching new generation Santro in coming years. This new Santro will be better equipped to rival the competition.

What will also work in Hyundai India’s favour is that by the time they launch new generation Santro, their second plant in India will be operational. Thus they no longer will have production constraints like before.

As per the report, extensive research has gone into the making of the new Hyundai Santro by the company’s R&D center in Hyderabad. This ‘Made in India’ product is being developed at a cost of INR 1,000 crores and has been approved by company’s headquarters in Seoul. New generation Hyundai Santro is estimated to be offered with either an 800cc or 1.0 liter petrol engine and will be the first fully automatic car in its segment while the automaker is also considering introduction of an AMT variant.

Set to come in with a new design and updated features, new gen Hyundai Santro is slated to be offered with enhanced engine, comfortable interiors, while pricing is estimated to be in the INR 4-6 lakh category. India will serve as the manufacturing base for the new Santro which will be sold across the globe, especially in those countries where small cars are in increased demand.

This article first appeared on Rushlane.com