Hyundai Motor India on Thursday launched premium sedan Elantra to fill the gap between its mid-size car Accent and luxury sedan Sonata.
Offered with a 1.8-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre diesel option, the Elantra had a lot going for itself -- decent performance, good space, fairly reasonable dynamics and a good price tag.
Overall, we feel that the Hyundai Elantra is a very good car for people who aren't into aggressive driving but for those who want refinement and comfort along with a long list of features and a pleasant driving experience.
Launched back in 2016, the sixth generation Elantra has a lot going for it. The car has now entered the MotorBeam garage and here are our first impressions.
Hyundai Elantra is likely to give it tough to rivals like Renault Fluence and Toyota Corolla.
It is as different as chalk and cheese when you step inside the cabin of all these cars.
The new Elantra is 40 mm longer and 25 mm wider than the outgoing model
The Hyundai Elantra is a well-known name in India, thanks to the striking design language used both the times it was introduced in the country, i.e. in the year 2000 and later in 2012. Now Hyundai has decided to launch the sixth generation car in India to re-capture the D-segment sedan throne. Indian automotive website MotorBeam.com got its hands on the car and decided to run the classy sedan through its paces.
Fit and finish is next to faultless for the price, but we did find a few hard plastics on the steering and a few switches that felt out of place
Hyundai on Monday launched a new version of its premium sedan Elantra priced between Rs 14.13 lakh and Rs 17.94 lakh.
Rohin Nagrani drives the new Elantra ahead of its launch.
The facelifted Elantra is a loaded with features and will give it tough to rivals.
Launched in petrol and diesel in-line options, Elantra holds the potential to dominate over the existing sedan rivals like Chevrolet Cruze, Skoda Laura and Toyota Corolla Altis.
Apart from this, the company will roll out its SUV Santa Fe in October this year which will carry a price tag between Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) and Rs 22 lakh (Rs 2.2 million) a unit.
It seems the Korean carmaker Hyundai Motors has pulled up its socks to conquer every bit of premium car segment.
Performance wise, the Elantra's 1.8-litre petrol and 1.6-litre diesel engines provide great thrust initially, but tire on reaching the 150 kmph mark. Octavia is a more sensible choice.
In the US, the Hyundai i30 is marketed as the hatchback version of the Elantra sedan.
The Rs 17.70-lakh Honda Civic competes with the Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corola Altis and Hyundai Elantra.
With cars like the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic selling in very small numbers and potentially even being phased out, the Octavia has very little competition, says Pavan Lall.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd reported a 17.84 per cent dip in its domestic car sales for February, and said it would soon reduce the price of its high import intensity models 'Elantra' and 'Sonata'.
Right now, the 'Lower D' or LD segment -- which the industry defines as a sedan that costs between Rs 1.5 million and Rs 2 million, is longer than 4.5 metres, and powered by an engine of 1.8 litre or larger -- has barely three cars, all of which have been around for over a decade in India. Nevertheless, at least one foreign auto player is looking to bet big on the segment.
Toyota, Mercedes Benz and BMW, have announced a hike already.
For the last four days Mumbai has been seized of a whodunnit of another kind. After a speeding Aston Martin owned by Reliance Ports mowed into two cars on the posh Peddar Road on Sunday night the identity of the driver remains unclear, and the police is treading carefully in the matter, reports Prasanna Zore.
General Motors subsidiary Chevrolet will introduce a diesel engine option in Optra by April-May this year. Currently, the car is only available with petrol engine.
She has been charged under Sections 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 471 and 468 (both deal with forgery) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly forging documents.
Hyundai Motor announced on Tuesday a price hike across various models, including the popular Santro, to offset increase in costs of input materials and freight.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd on Tuesday said that tis new sedan Verna will be launched in India during the third quarter (Jul-Sept) of 2006, which will be slotted between its Accent and Elantra models.
The entire range of Hyundai's diesel cars - from compact ones to SUV models, including the soon-to-be-launched Aura - will be eco-friendly.
Maruti and Hyundai favoured among used car buyers
Maruti Suzuki India to hike prices of its vehicles across models by up to Rs 20,000 from January to offset rising costs.
India's second-biggest carmaker Hyundai Motor India on Friday said its sales surged 13.4 per cent in May 2004.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd will increase the prices of its flagship model Santro next month due to rising input costs made by an appreciating rupee.
As it is with all Hyundais, the quality of the materials used is good and the cabin feels premium, practical and well put together.
India wasn't applying widespread crash testing like foreign countries do, so manufacturers didn't see the need for an investment focus on safety. Customers rarely walked into showrooms asking for the safest car. They wanted the cheapest or the most fuel-efficient or the best-looking car.
What worked for Hyundai in India when so many other auto manufacturers have had to eat humble pie? Pavan Lall finds out.
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