Hyundai India receives 20,000 bookings for the Elite i20 hatchback

Everything Hyundai India has been doing seems to be going right these days. The South Korean automaker’s Grand i10 was off to a flyer of a start and the Xcent compact sedan has been doing very well too. Hyundai recently launched the Elite i20 B+ segment hatchback in India and the car has success written all over it. The Elite i20 has bagged around 20,000 bookings since its launch on the 11th of August. The i20 it replaces was selling about 3,500-4,000 units on an average every month. The new car has been priced between Rs 4.89 lakhs – 7.66 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). CarToq’s Hyundai i20 Elite First Drive Review.

The i20 Elite will see stiff competition in the coming months though. The Maruti Suzuki Swift is all set to get a minor facelift in October. The facelifted version has already been spotted in India and gets daytime running LEDs, a new alloy wheel design and slightly refreshed bumpers. In terms of mechanical changes, the Swift Facelift’s petrol version is rumoured to get a 4 speed automatic gearbox. However, the car will retain the 1.2 liter petrol and 1.3 liter diesel motors that power the pre-facelift Swift. The car is expected to be priced between Rs. 4.5 lakhs – 6.8 lakhs(ex-showroom, Delhi).

The next generation 2015 Ford Figo, which has been launched in Brazil as the Ford Ka, will be launched in India in April 2015. The hatchback will be Ford’s answer to the likes of Elite i20 and Swift. The 2015 Fig0 is expected to carry over the value-for-money positioning of the current model. The car will get two engine options, a 1 liter non-turbo version of the EcoBoost petrol engine and the 1.5 liter TDCI turbo diesel engine. The is expected to be priced between Rs 4.2-6.4 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The third major competitor to the Elite i20 is the 2015 Honda Jazz, which is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2015. Honda will be using the 1.5 litre i-DTEC turbo diesel motor in the hatchback. The 2015 Jazz will also get a 1.2 liter i-VTEC petrol motor. Honda got the pricing wrong the first time it launched the Jazz in India but we hope it doesn’t repeat the same errors this time around.