Hyundai Venue compact SUV to be officially unveiled in India today: Bookings open!

Hyundai India’s first stab at the sub-4 meter compact SUV space will happen today, as the South Korean automaker unveils the Venue aboard a cruise ship. Bookings for the Venue are open across all Hyundai dealerships in India, and the official launch of this SUV will happen in the middle of May 2019. The price announcement and exact specifications of the various variants will be made during the launch in May. For now, we do have plenty of information detailing what the Hyundai Venue will bring to the table.

The Hyundai Venue will rival the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon, Honda WR-V, Ford EcoSport and the Mahindra XUV300. It’ll be priced well under the Hyundai Creta. Prices are likely to be pegged between Rs. 7.5-11 lakhs. The Venue will be offered with a front wheel drive layout as standard and will feature a monocoque construction.

It’ll be a five seat SUV offered with multiple engine options. While a 1 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with 110 Bhp-170 Nm and a 1.4 liter-4 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with 89 Bhp-220 Nm have been confirmed, there’s talk of Hyundai also offering a 1.4 liter-4 cylinder naturally aspirated petrol motor with 99 Bhp-132 Nm on the base variant.

The Venue will also get a segment leading, 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearbox with the turbocharged petrol motor. Hyundai has been harping about the Venue being India’s first ‘connected SUV’. The vehicle will offer a range of segment topping connectivity options running through a sim-card integrated into the vehicle. From starting the vehicle and turning air conditioning on remotely to tracking the vehicle in case of theft, the BlueLink connectivity features aim to take things to the next level through the Venue.

Spyshots of the Venue’s interiors – revealed a couple of weeks ago – reveal high quality bits all around and a high level of fit and finish, similar to what’s seen on the Elite i20. The Venue will also have a large, touchscreen tablet-like infotainment unit mounted on top of the center console. Safety features on the top-end variant could include 6 airbags, ABS, traction control, ESP, reverse parking camera, and more. Lower variants of the SUV are expected to pack in a minimum of two airbags, ABS, speed alerts, seat belt reminder and reverse parking sensors as standard.

Hyundai will be hoping to sell at least 10,000 monthly units of the Venue in India. This is considering the fact that Hyundai already sells nearly 10,000 units of the Creta each month. The Venue is likely to cannibalize some amount of Creta sales as there will be slight overlap between the two SUVs. The next-generation Creta, which has just been unveiled in China as the 2nd generation iX25, will move up the price band, and offer a 7 seat option in the Indian market. Therefore, it’s very likely that the Venue will eventually take the 1st generation Creta’s place, at least till the Rs. 12 lakh mark.