Hyundai Elantra to boil the D Segment in India
July 27, 2007 – 12:24 am by Ashish Jha
Hyundai has been beleaguered by its own success. Plagued with the image of being a maker of econo-cars like Santro and the Accent, the Korean giant has been struggling to present itself as a lifestyle brand, something that its rivals have achieved well. So what should Hyundai do to establish itself as a maker of luxury cars?
It met with some success with the launch of Sonata. The Sonata had snob value (styling cues from Mercedes and Jaguar at act here) going for it, but the current Sonata Embera loses that too! Hmmm, bad times then? Lets have a look at what the company has been offering us for the sake of “lifestyle” image. Sonata. Tucson. Elantra. Think… think hard. Er… no. None else.
So lets talk about the one car that might see a facelift soon - Elantra. Even in its current guise, it shines as a VFM. But then why did it not sell if was so good? Well, Because of many a factor. The styling was not to everyone’s liking and you wouldn’t have paid over 10lakh for such styling. Would you?
So Hyundai went about slashing the prices drastically and made the Elantra great value in the bargain. Even this has not really seen the car sell in good numbers. So opting for the only tool remaining, Hyundai is planning to launch an “all-new” Elantra in India soon.
The new one sure looks much better than the current model but as it has been, the grille remains much to be desired of. The large headlamps extend back in the hood and the smart looking fog lamps compliment the bumper. The waistline is pretty pronounced and there is a curve running across the side that looks pretty hot! The rear is attractive as well and looks like an ‘inspired’ effort. Hyundai sure gets inspired quite a lot (The inspiration being the Toyota Corolla this time?). The C pillar is what got me excited big time. It slopes down beautifully to merge with the waistline. The interiors too will be quite plush, we hear. And the photos (though of a LHD) certainly suggest that.
Hyundai has an option of a lot of motors to power the Elantra with. A 2.0L CRDi engine is most likely to take the fight to the Chevrolet Optra Magnum and the Skoda Octavia while a 1.8L petrol heart will tussle with the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
Hope Hyundai strikes it right this time round. Wish them luck!
12 Responses to “Hyundai Elantra to boil the D Segment in India”
I have seen New Elantra in USA in during short visit in April-07. It does look promising and definately got exciting looks and the curves you talked about. I drove petrol version as they dont sell cool CRDI-VGT there.
Its good for people as they would more option in D segment with new Elantra launch.
But problem is- Hyundai in India is very slow to react to market demand. They should have bought this new Elantra by now. Suzuki bought so many brand new models to India in quick succession and so did Honda.
Hyundai also has SantaFe SUV which is highly succesull in USA. This could be pitted against likes of Grand Vitara,Ford endeavor or even Honda CRV. But Hyundai is too slow in India.
Look at the Getz Prime. By now they should have bought CRDI version, but they have not.
Anyway, good work Ashish to give India an insight into upcoming cars such as could be launched New Elantra.
By Pintu on Jul 27, 2007
Pintu,
I second your words there. Hyundai has been extremely laid back when it came to the SUVs and the luxury offerings of the Korean giant. But this time we hope that they’ve gotten up from their siesta and do something to promote capable cars like the Elantra.
By Ashish on Jul 27, 2007
Imagine other players in this segment. The new Civic 9Best car of the year in many countries), The Corolla (nxt generation hitting market soon) and the highly successful Octavia. Really I don;t see Hyundai rocking to a decent extent at least, in this segment. Poor Elantra. Many are right this upgrade should have happened long time back.
By GK on Jul 30, 2007
Here is some new cars and dealers in usa http://car-dealers.blogspot.com
By prak on Jul 31, 2007
Dear Gentleman
Head very happy news, and eagerly waiting to buy this d segment.Please inform us the launching date in Inida and pricesfor all catagory
yr reply in this matter shall be highly obliged
brgds/sreekumar
cochin india
By sreekumar on Sep 14, 2007
hey when is this crdi beauty getting launched in indian market.
By sachin bohara on Sep 17, 2007
hi can u pls tell me that when u r going to launch dis new elantra
By tej dhillon on Sep 21, 2007
I sold my 2004 Elantra Crdi today and I am waiting for the launch of All new Elantra. From company insiders there is no specific information nor clue about any launch date but its belived that Hyundai contemplating on 3 launches in 2007-08
One would be a new hatch named Hyundai Pa the other is the GETZ CRDI and ofcourse the 3rd is the
‘All new Elantra’. In all probability the Elantra could hit the roads by March 2008.
By Rajesh on Sep 22, 2007
Hyundai Elantra is one of the best car for college students according to survey. Because of its fuel efficiency and safety features that suits the need of every students.
By auto parts mom on Feb 7, 2008
hi,
which ia a better car skoda octavia l&k diesal or honda civiv v.which car has a low ground clearance.
By saif on Mar 30, 2008
Enough of waiting for the new elantra. Hyundai should speed up the process. Hope the company folks see all these meddages and act. Any ways does nayboday has an inside news of the launch date. Waiting is painful.
By shishir on Apr 6, 2008
Talked to one of the hyundai dealers ,it will be launched in June 2008 . Price of fully loaded will be 10.66 Lacs(diesel), you can add insurance ,tax etc. Petrol version would be cheaper (may be around one lac). Well i’ve read specifications at US hyundai site,but i think they will launch scaled down version in india.
By Kanwal on May 11, 2008