Maruti Brezza-rivaling Hyundai Styx: First affordable electric SUV from Hyundai?

The upcoming Hyundai Styx sub-4 meter compact SUV will be launched in India before March 2019 with petrol and diesel engines. A latest report adds that Hyundai India is considering an electric variant of the Styx for the Indian  market. The Hyundai Styx Electric could be the first affordable electric SUV from the South Korean automaker.

Here’s what YK Koo, the managing director of Hyundai India, told ET,

We have no plans for an electric Santro. We will have a top-down strategy on EVs. We will have an EV Kona coming  first next year, then we are looking at an electric SUV, maybe QXI and then an electric car. What is after Kona,  whether it is an SUV or a car is something that we are deciding.

The first electric car for the Indian market from Hyundai will be the Kona SUV, which will be launched here next  year. The Kona EV will be imported to India as a completely built unit (CBU), which means that it will be quite  expensive. A price tag between Rs. 25-30 lakhs is likely for the Kona EV, making it a very niche product.

Hyundai wants to test the market with the Kona EV, following which it could tap into the mass market with more  affordably priced EVs. The Hyundai Styx SUV is likely to be one such electric vehicle, with a high amount of  localization and local manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the petrol and diesel variants of the Hyundai Styx will take on the likes of the Maruti Brezza, Ford  EcoSport and Tata Nexon. The Styx is likely to be more powerful than the Maruti Brezza. The petrol engine will be a 1 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged unit with about 110 Bhp of peak power while the diesel engine will be a 1.4 liter  turbocharged unit with 89 Bhp-220 Nm.

Manual and AMT options will be offered with the Styx, which will be Hyundai’s first SUV to get an AMT. The AMT  variants of the Styx are meant to take on the Maruti Brezza directly. The new compact SUV is likely to start from well under Rs. 8 lakhs.

Via ETAuto