Hyundai Venue is Maruti Brezza’s latest compact suv rival, & it’ll be unveiled soon

Hyundai has officially revealed that the new, sub-4 meter compact SUV it’ll soon launch as a Maruti Brezza challenger will be called the Venue. The Hyundai Venue’s name has also been teased through a video, and the SUV will be officially unveiled at the upcoming New York Motor Show in April 2019. It’s likely to be launched in the Indian  market a month later, in May. The Hyundai Venue will rival the likes of the Maruti Vitara Brezza, the Tata Nexon, the Mahindra XUV300 and the Ford EcoSport. It will be Hyundai’s first sub-4 meter SUV for the Indian market, and will be positioned below the best selling Creta.

Considering the fact that Hyundai sells nearly 10,000 units of the Creta in India each month, the South Korean  automaker will be targeting sales of over 10,000 units for the Venue SUV, which will be much more cheaper than the  Creta. Prices of the Venue are expected to start from Rs. 7.5 lakhs for the base petrol variant, and about Rs. 8.5  lakhs for the base diesel variant. On whether Hyundai will take a value pricing approach for the Venue, or whether  it’ll go for a price premium for its latest SUV is something we’ll have to wait and watch for. The Hyundai Venue will  be projected as a butch alternative to premium hatchbacks and compact sedans.

For now, we do know that the compact SUV will pack in a 1 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with about 110 Bhp of peak power and 170 Nm of peak torque. While a manual gearbox will be standard with this engine, Hyundai is also likely to offer an automated manual transmission option. The diesel engine could be the 1.4 liter motor borrowed from the likes of the Elite i20 and Creta. This motor makes 89 Bhp-220 Nm, and is paired with a 6 speed manual gearbox. The same combination is expected to be offered on the Venue. A front wheel drive layout will be standard on this SUV, and there will be no all wheel drive mode, even as an option.

Typically, cars sold by Hyundai are loaded with features that are often best-in-segment. The Venue is likely to be no  different. The video teaser of the SUV has also indicated that a sunroof will be on offer. Expect many other segment  topping features. A touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will be standard on the top-end variants. All variants will get twin airbags, ABS, EBD, speed alert, reverse parking camera, seat belt reminder  and ISOFIX child seat mounting points as standard. The high variants could add cruise control, hill hold, additional  airbags and ESP as other safety features. As for creature comforts, keyless entry, automatic dual zone climate  control, push button start, automatic headlamps, rain sensing wipers and other features are likely to be offered on  the Venue.