Hyundai Styx (Carlino) spied testing ahead of launch: Maruti Brezza rival [Video]

South Korean carmaker Hyundai is hard at work testing its upcoming rival for the Maruti Brezza. The upcoming sub-4-metre compact SUV is based on the Carlino concept from Auto Expo 2016 and could bear the name Styx when it arrives in India next year. The upcoming Hyundai Styx SUV has been spotted once again while testing, this time by Youtuber N.I. John.

The Hyundai Styx was spotted testing by the Youtuber on the highway between the cities of Salem and Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu. The test mule of the upcoming Hyundai compact SUV was heavily camouflaged to keep it clear from those with roving lenses. The Youtuber mistakenly identified the SUV as Mahindra’s upcoming compact SUV, which is why the captions in the video all point towards that SUV, which is expected to arrive in the first half of 2019.

The Hyundai Styx is expected to look like a smaller version of the Creta, with Hyundai’s latest design traits making their way onto the exterior of the SUV. The test mule though heavily camouflaged could not hide the split headlight design or the cascading grille, which will feature an abundance of chrome. The Carlino/Styx test SUV is riding on a set of some rather snazzy alloy wheels, which look rather cool. The rear end of the SUV looks to be quite sculpted as well, though that could just be the camo at work.

The Carlino/Styx will be the first Hyundai vehicle sold in India to offer a turbocharged petrol engine. The engine, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit can produce 110 Bhp and 170 Nm of torque. The Carlino will be the second new Hyundai after the Santro to be offered with an AMT gearbox. The diesel engine on the Styx is expected to be the 1.4-litre unit found under the hood of the Elite i20. The diesel motor is more powerful than the one on the Maruti Brezza.

The Hyundai Carlino/Styx will be Hyundai’s first foray into the sub-4-metre compact SUV segment, where it will have to deal with the Maruti Brezza, which is currently the nation’s best-selling SUV. The Styx will also have to deal with the likes of the Tata Nexon and the Ford EcoSport.

With the upcoming Styx Hyundai is targeting the Vitara Brezza from Maruti as it looks to take a share of what is perhaps the most attractive and contested section of the Indian car market today – sub-4-metre compact SUVs. Hyundai is aiming for high numbers with the production version of the Carlino which could prove to be a very big threat to the Maruti Brezza’s dominance of the segment. The Korean carmaker is expected to get very aggressive with pricing to help the Styx take on the best-selling SUV in the country, which will be helped by the fact that the upcoming Hyundai SUV will offer petrol variants, something Maruti currently does not do with the Brezza.