Hyundai Venue SUV to be more feature loaded than Ford EcoSport & Mahindra XUV300

While Hyundai is yet to showcase the upcoming Venue to the public, they have finally revealed quite a few surprises that will be in store for buyers looking at getting a compact SUV. This is one segment that has been growing by 20% and makes up for over 25000 units per month. But Hyundai understands the tough competition that comes in the form of the Brezza, EcoSport, Nexon, WRV and the newly introduced XUV300 and the reason why they have left no stone unturned to make sure the Venue ends up attracting buyers in the price range of Rs 7-11 lakh.

Hyundai claims the Venue compact SUV will be Indias’ first ‘Smart Connect SUV’ and will come with the company’s global ‘BlueLink Connected Technology’. It will bring in a host of never before seen features that aim to offer safety, convenience and various vehicle management services. Let’s have a look at some of the key features:

• 33 features, 10 Indian specific
  The Venue compact SUV will have as many as 33 services under its “smart connected SUV” banner. Of these, 10 have been developed for the Indian car market. For example, the voice recognition (via AI) feature that will offer voice assisted calling, navigation, media functions, 3rd party services like weather information etc. This will be possible via interactive recognition pattern that will offer Indian English (accent) support.
• eSIM
  The Venue will get an inbuilt eSIM and for this the company has partnered with Vodafone Idea. The subscription for this, as we understand, will be free till the car’s warranty period. The SIM card is essential to allow cloud based services, real time navigation, car tracking facility and functions that will run from an owner’s mobile app.
• Remote access
  This will be the biggest USP for young buyers! Imagine starting your Venue remotely via the app and even turning on the air-conditioning to fight Indian summers. Likewise, owners will be able to lock/unlock the car, enable remote honking and turning on the lights, find their SUV in a parking lot and share the location with others.
• Safety 
  The Venue will come with automatic crash notification of ACN which will send out distress signals automatically in case of a severe collision. Then there will be the SOS/Emergency feature, roadside assistance and panic notification. The last feature is what we really appreciate, especially given the rising number of female drivers. Good work Hyundai!
• Smart IRVM 
  Further to the point above, the internal rear view mirror will have three essential buttons that can be accessed easily. These include the SOS button (emergency assistance, medical assistance, panic assistance), RSA button (road side assistance) and BlueLink button with which you can talk to the customer care department.
• Security 
  Car theft is an increasing problem in metro cities but the Venue has its way around this issue. You will get notified if the car is stolen, you can track it thanks to eSIM and most importantly, immobilize the vehicle remotely. Once done, there is no way the car will be able to start or driven away further.

Apart from this, the Venue will be offered with smart features like geo-fencing, speed alert, valet alert etc. You will be able to track your driving patterns, get monthly health reports on the car and even be able to push the map (to a destination) onto the screen of the vehicle. Do note that, features like remote start / stop will only be offered with the automatic variant and the car needs to be in P mode for it to start. This feature will not be available on the manual Venue.

The Venue SUV will be showcased to us on 17th April and that is when we will bring you pictures and videos of the vehicle. It will be offered with both petrol and diesel engines in India and will be positioned at the premium end of the compact SUV market. This is based on the Carlino concept that was showcased four years at the Delhi Auto Expo.

Few images used for representational purpose only