CarToq Source: 2014 Hyundai Grand i10-based compact sedan to be called the Accent?

Snapshot: Hyundai India will unveil the Grand i10-based compact sedan early next month, just ahead of the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. CarToq sources indicate that the new compact sedan from Hyundai will use the Accent badge. Incidentally, the Hyundai Accent entry level sedan, available only in petrol engined guise, has been discontinued from the Indian car market. The Grand i10-based compact sedan is the Accent’s replacement here. 

Notably, the Accent was Hyundai’s first C-Segment sedan in India. The car was sold in sedan and notchback forms before the advent of the Hyundai Verna, the Accent’s global replacement. Since Hyundai continued to sell the Accent sedan along with the Verna in India, the car maker adopted the Verna name for the Accent’s replacement. Globally, the Verna continues to be known as the Accent.

The Accent was initially sold with petrol and turbo diesel engines in India. However, the launch of the Verna meant that Hyundai India re-positioned the Accent as an entry-level sedan with a solitary petrol engine option. With the Accent badge likely to make a comeback through the Grand i10-based compact sedan, it will mark the first instance of the age-old Accent platform making way for a new platform (modified i10 platform).

Click here to read about the upcoming compact sedans in the Indian car market

The Grand i10-based compact sedan shares many of its parts with its hatchback sibling. Interiors, features and the platform are the three major areas in which the new compact sedan will be similar to the Grand i10 hatchback. The compact sedan is also likely to share its engines and gearboxes with the Grand i10 hatchback. Expect the 1.2 liter Kappa petrol engine and the 1.1 liter-3 cylinder turbo diesel engine to be shoehorned into the compact sedan.

The new Accent compact sedan will compete with the likes of the Honda Brio Amaze and the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire compact sedans. Hyundai India is likely to price the Accent compact sedan competitively, given the extensive amount of parts that the car shares with its hatchback sibling. The 2014 Hyundai Accent compact sedan will have its global premiere at New Delhi on the 4th of February, 2014.