Hyundai Venue: Another video teaser of the Maruti Brezza challenger surfaces

Hyundai has begun teasing the upcoming Venue sub-4 meter compact SUV in full earnest. The South Korean automaker will  unveil the Venue SUV at the New York Auto Show on the 17th of April, 2018. The SUV is likely to be launched in India by June 2019 as Hyundai’s first sub-4 meter compact SUV for the Indian market, to challenge the likes of the Maruti Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300.

The Venue will sit below the Creta in terms of price and positioning. We anticipate a sub-8 lakh rupee starting price  for the SUV. The Hyundai Venue will be offered with petrol and diesel engines. The petrol is likely to be a brand  new, 1 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged unit with about 110 Bhp on tap.

While there are rumours of Hyundai bringing in  the 1.4 liter petrol engine with 99 Bhp-132 Nm as an entry-level petrol, it remains to be seen if the automaker takes  this approach considering the fact that it’ll make the Venue more pricier. This is because there are no excise duty  benefits for sub-4 meter cars with petrol engines displacing more than 1.2 liters.

The diesel engine on the Venue will be a 1.4 liter turbocharged unit borrowed directly from the i20. This motor makes 89 Bhp-220 Nm, and is also on offer with the Hyundai Creta. The diesel engine will be offered with a 6 speed manual gearbox as standard while the petrol is expected to get both manual and AMT options. As for styling, the Venue is likely to have a butch front end, with typical SUV styling cues to make it look like a baby-Creta, yet different  enough to differentiate itself from its sibling. In terms of features, we expect the compact SUV to be fully loaded,  and even the base variant could have impressive levels of equipment.

The recently launched Mahindra XUV300 is the feature-king of its segment, and it remains to be seen if the Hyundai  Venue manages to outdo it. For this to happen, Hyundai will have to really load up the SUV with a lot of equipment.  Talking safety, twin airbags, ABS, central locking, ISOFIX child seat mounting points, speed alerts, a seat belt  reminder system and reverse parking sensors will be on offer as standard on the Hyundai Venue.

Higher variants could get additional safety equipment. From cruise control and reverse parking camera to keyless entry, a smart band based key, automatic headlamps, rain sensing wipers, automatic climate control, touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and a sunroof are the key features that will be offered on the top-end version of the Venue. Bookings for the new Hyundai SUV could commence in India, soon after the New York unveil. Hyundai is likely to target sales of over 10,000 units for the new SUV considering the fact that the pricier Creta itself does close to that number. The Maruti Brezza is likely to face some real heat from the new Hyundai SUV, and this should prompt Maruti to bring a petrol version of the Brezza.