Hyundai Verna is Indian Car Of the Year Winner

Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) is one of the most prestigious automotive awards in India. Every year, newly launched vehicles are tested by a board of jury members, who then announce the winner. For 2018, the all-new Hyundai Verna has been chosen as the Indian Car of the Year.

There were eight other finalists for the award – Honda WR-V, Jeep Compass, Maruti Dzire, Maruti Ignis, Renault Captur, Skoda Kodiaq, Tata Nexon and Volkswagen Tiguan. The Verna won the first place with 118 points, with the Maruti Dzire as the first runner-up with 117 points, and the Jeep Compass as the second runner-up with 87 points.

The Hyundai Verna is a mid-size sedan that takes on the likes of Honda City and Maruti Ciaz in the market. The all-new Verna comes with an updated design. At the front, the car gets a new cascade grille alongside new headlamps and bumpers. There are projector headlamps and LED DRLs integrated into the headlamp itself. The car also gets 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels and sleek LED tail lamps.

The Verna has entered its fifth generation and is now based on a new K2 platform that makes the handling much better than the outgoing generation of the vehicle. The all-new Verna is also a feature-rich vehicle. It gets a few segment-first features like ventilated front seats, hands-free boot operation and anti-microbial coating on the AC evaporator.

The car also gets a new 7-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, climate control, cruise control, automatic headlamps, sunroof, and rear parking sensors. All variants of the vehicle get dual airbags and ABS as standard while the top variant comes with six airbags.

Hyundai has dropped the 1.4-litre engine options from the new Verna. It is now only powered by the 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engine options. The 1.6-litre petrol produces a maximum of 122 Bhp and 155 Nm. The diesel engine has an output of 126 Bhp – 260 Nm. Both the engine options are offered with either 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission. Prices of the Verna start from Rs. 8 lakhs, and go all the way up to Rs. 12.88 lakhs.