2 out of 5 Hyundai Venue SUVs sold will be turbo-petrol models: Marketing Head

The head of Hyundai India’s marketing division, Puneet Anand, has just remarked that he expects 40 % of sales to come from the turbo petrol engined variants of the newly launched Venue compact SUV. The sub-4 meter offering from Hyundai rivals the likes of the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport and the Mahindra XUV300.

Apart from the Maruti Brezza, all other SUVs in this segment offer a turbocharged petrol engine option. Turbocharged petrol engines are becoming very popular even in mass market cars, and in the coming years, even sub-4 meter hatchbacks and sedans will receive such engines. Hyundai, for its part, plans to offer the 1 liter, turbo petrol motor in the 2nd generation Grand i10, Elite and the facelifted Verna sedan.

Here’s what Mr. Puneet Anand told ACP,

Well, the 1-litre is a very aspirational product. It will be one of the top-end products from our platform, and the way I look at the adoption of technologies from the people, I am sure somewhere about more than 40 percent of the overall (Venue) portfolio will be taken up by the 1-litre engine, because it’s a very unique segment. We are a very evolving company. Yes, the 1-litre is a first product from Hyundai. Once we understand the customers’ desires, why not strap it in other products also? We have very strong products like the i20 and Grand i10 and we’ll be bringing such engines in higher-end models too.

The Hyundai Venue’s 1 liter turbocharged petrol engine is a 3 cylinder unit, and makes a peak power of 118 Bhp and a peak torque of 172 Nm. There are two gearbox options on offer with this engine: a 6 speed manual and a 7 speed twin clutch automatic. The automatic gearbox is a best-in-class feature offered by the Hyundai Venue, and the automaker expects plenty of demand for the variants equipped with this feature. The Venue is also available with two other engines: a 1.2 liter-4 cylinder naturally aspirated petrol that makes 82 Bhp-114 Nm, and a 1.4 liter-4 cylinder turbocharged diesel with 89 Bhp-220 Nm. The petrol engine gets a 5 speed manual gearbox while the diesle gets a 6 speed unit.

The Venue’s prices start from Rs. 6.5 lakhs, and it’s this sharp pricing that has prompted over 20,000 people to book the SUV in just weeks of launch. Hyundai has also received over 1 lakh enquiries for the SUV from prospective customers. The automaker hopes to sell about 8,000 to 10,000 units of the Venue each month, and this will make the SUV India’s second best selling sub-4 meter compact SUV behind the Maruti Vitara Brezza.