Hyundai Aura compact sedan: New Maruti Dzire rival to borrow engine from Hyundai Venue

Hyundai India will soon launch the Aura compact sedan, which will be based on the Grand i10 NIOS. The car will co-exist with Hyundai’s other offering in the compact sedan segment: the Xcent. New details about the Aura have been revealed by Hyundai. The South Korean automaker has just announced that the Aura will be India’s first BS6 certified turbocharged petrol engined sedan. The car will borrow the turbo petrol engine from the Hyundai Venue.

Power and torque outputs of the BS6 compliant turbo petrol engine are yet to be revealed. The 1 liter-3 cylinder turbo petrol engine will be paired to a five speed manual gearbox, and unlike the Venue, will not be offered with a 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearbox. Instead, Hyundai will offer a 5 speed automated manual transmission (AMT) with the 1.2 liter petrol engine that will also be offered in the Aura. Expect a 82 Bhp-114 Nm state of tune for the 1.2 petrol.

Hyundai continues to bet big on diesel engined cars, and even the Aura compact sedan will get a 1.2 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine borrowed from the Grand i10/Xcent. This engine will be BS6 compliant, and will be sold with a 5 speed manual gearbox. A 75 Bhp-190 Nm state of tune is likely for the diesel motor. Hyundai will also offer a 5 speed AMT with this diesel engine, making the Aura similar to the Maruti Dzire, in that both the petrol and diesel engines will get AMT options. Notably, Maruti Suzuki plans to discontinue the diesel engined models of the Dzire from April 2020, which means that the Aura will be the only car in the segment to offer AMT options with both petrol and diesel models.

The Hyundai Aura is expected to share its front end styling with the recently launched Grand i10 NIOS. At the rear, completely different styling, which is a lot different from what we’ve seen on the Xcent, is likely. The car is expected to be feature-rich, with a slew of creature comforts and safety features on offer. A touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be standard on the higher trims. and if priced well, could race to the top of the sales charts. We’re saying this because the Maruti Dzire will have a big handicap from next year, when the diesel engined variants will be discontinued. A car like the Hyundai Aura can easily fill in the vacuum created by the Maruti Dzire Diesel’s non-availability.