Hyundai Ai3 Micro SUV Coming To India In 2023

According to some new media reports, there have been claims that Hyundai is looking to jump into the micro SUV or the entry-level sub-4 meter subcompact SUV segment. The company is rumoured to be working on a tiny SUV under the name of Ai3 and it could launch it in 2023. As per the reports, this new vehicle could be slotted under the company’s current subcompact SUV Venue.

This CUV or Compact Utility Vehicle is very likely to compete with the likes of Punch which sits under the subcompact SUV from its own brand, the Tata Nexon. It is also assumed that it will compete with the likes of Maruti Ignis and Mahindra KUV NXT. The reports have also claimed that the funding for the development of this micro SUV has been approved internally.

The company has recently revealed a new micro SUV, named the Casper in its homeland of South Korea and reports suggest that a heavily localised and modified version of the Hyundai Casper could be launched in the Indian subcontinent. The Casper is based on the Hyundai Santro’s platform and is currently the smallest SUV in the Hyundai lineup.

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As of now, there is not a lot of information about the Indian variant of this upcoming micro SUV but there is a good bit of information available for the Casper. Dimensionally, the new Hyundai Casper is 3,595mm in length, 1,595mm in width and 1,575mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2.4 meters.

In terms of features, the Casper comes equipped with a fully digital instrument cluster and a generously sized touchscreen. In addition, the Casper is offered with seven airbags, a vast array of driver and safety assistance systems like the lane-keeping assist and forward-collision warning assist to high-beam assist and even adaptive cruise control.

Casper is currently offered with two engine options in its homeland in which the first is a 1.0-litre naturally-aspirated petrol that produces around 76 bhp and the other is a 100bhp, 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol. Both engines come paired to a 4-speed automatic gearbox.

The South Korean automaker which has been consistently sitting at the second spot of being the biggest carmaker in India, has been pipped out by Tata Motors for the first time since the entry of Tata into the PV market in the late 1990s. Tata Motors sold a whopping 35,461 units of passenger vehicles in December 2021, while Hyundai could only manage to sell 32,312 units in the same month.

In addition to being down by 31.83 percent on a YoY basis, MoM sales of the carmaker also witnessed a dip of 12.67 percent. Best selling cars in the company lineup continued to be the Creta, Venue, i10 NIOS and i20 with the Alcazar, Santro, Xcent and Verna also adding a few numbers.

In other news, Hyundai is gearing up to launch 5 new models in 2022 which include the likes of the facelifted Creta and Venue. Recently dealer dispatches of the new Tuscon were also spotted undisguised in the nation. The company will also launch the facelifted EV SUV Kona and the Ioniq 5 pure EV before the end of this financial year.

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