Hyundai Santro Out, Micro SUV In–That Could Be The Way Ahead

The Santro has probably made way for a new micro SUV to take on the Tata Punch and Citroen C3

• The Santro has been discontinued after its reintroduction in 2018.

• Hyundai is likely to bring a micro SUV to India.

• Micro SUV segment has been heating up with the likes of the Tata Punch and the Citroen C3.

• Reasons for the Santro’s discontinuation include its design and overlapping prices with models from a segment above.

Hyundai has bid adieu to its entry-level offering, the Santro, in India. With the Grand i10 Nios now being the starting product in Hyundai India’s range, the question arises: what will come in place of the Santro?

So What’s Next For Hyundai In This Price Range? 

A new micro SUV from Hyundai is set to be launched at an estimated starting price of around Rs 5 lakh, similar to the Santro. In mid-2021, there were talks about the carmaker planning on introducing the Casper (its micro SUV in South Korea) in India, only to be declined by Hyundai India later, to bring in a market-specific model. The new micro SUV could come in as a rival to the Tata Punch and Citroen C3.

Why A Micro SUV?

The micro SUV segment has gotten more popular among buyers only recently in India with the introduction of the Tata Punch. Maruti’s Ignis has been in the space for a few years with Citroen’s first mass-market offering, the C3, giving it company. Being a micro SUV, its dimensions will be well under four metres and similar to those of its prospective rivals.

Also Read: Hyundai Discontinues India’s One Of The Most Fuel-Efficient Diesel Cars: Grand i10 Nios And Aura

Santro’s Journey In India

Coming back to the Santro, Hyundai had introduced the nameplate in India in 1998, and it became hugely popular back then. The carmaker discontinued the Santro in 2015 only to bring it back in 2018 in a new avatar. 

While the last model did have multiple strongpoints, a few shortcomings included design, and more importantly, its price range which overlapped with that of mid-size hatchbacks such as the Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios. Cars such as the Maruti Swift retain the essence of the hugely popular original model over its different iterations; the Santro, in its new avatar, resembled more to the old i10 than an original Santro. Watch the video below to get a detailed understanding of the Santro’s discontinuation.

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