Hyundai Venue compact SUV bookings open in India, expected to be priced at Rs 7.5 lakh

Aditya Chatterjee Updated: July 09, 2019, 05:20 PM IST

Hyundai India dealerships have officially commenced the bookings for its first compact SUV offering, the Venue in the country. The SUV made its global debut in India on April 17 along with it showcase at the 2019 New York International Auto Show. Hyundai had also confirmed the launch date of the Venue SUV that is scheduled to take place on May 21. The Hyundai Venue SUV will compete with the likes of the Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport and the Mahindra XUV300.

The Venue's various design takes inspiration from the brand's other SUVs like the Kona and Santa Fe. It gets at large honeycomb grille, split headlamps, and a general squared-off look. Further the stocky, short wheelbase look has been highlighted. The production-spec car has subtle cuts and creases along the body and end with quite a minmalist accentuated with the small squarish tail-lamps. Dimensionally, the Hyundai venue will be 3,995 mm long, 1,770mm wide and 1,590mm tall. Wheelbase is 2,500mm. Top-spec cars get a 215/60 R16. The interiors of the Venue see a few bits previously unseen on Hyundais here. While the steering wheel and instrumentation seem like the regular Hyundai high quality fare, unique is the new centre console arrangement. New here is the layout of the infotainment and the climate control knobs with integrated displays. The colour patterns and overall theme remind us of the Creta and other Hyundai products.

The SUV will get two petrol and one diesel engine which will be mated to two manual and one dual-clutch automatic transmission in various permutations. One of the petrols, and of most interest to us, is the new Kappa T-GDI 1.0 litre turbo. This three-cylinder motor will be available in its higher output iteration, which makes 120PS and 172 Nm. This motor already does duty in cars like the i20 and Kona internationally and is now set for an India debut. This will be paired with two gearboxes, a new seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and a six-speed manual.

The other petrol motor, for lower-spec cars, will be the 1.2 litre petrol as seen on various Hyundai cars in India. The four cylinder motor is available on cars like the Grand i10 and India-spec Elite i20 and makes 83PS and 116 Nm. Only a five-speed manual gearbox will be paired with this. The single diesel option will be the 1.4 litre four cylinder turbo diesel motor which puts out 90PS and 220 Nm. This motor is already available on the Verna and Creta, and like in those cars will be available with a six-speed manual. No auto option is expected, possibly to keep costs in check. Hyundai claims the Venue will be equipped with a number of features previously unseen in this segment. These are the DCT gearbox, wireless charger, air purifier, projector fog lamps, an HD Display Screen, Chrome Outside Door Handles, Wheel Air Curtains8, an Arkamys sound system and eco-coating. Other than this, the Venue will also get a sunroof, cruise control, cornering lamps, cooled glove box and rear AC vents. In terms of safety, the Venue will have upto six Airbags, speed sensing auto door lock, ABS, ESC/ESP, hill assist, brake assist and ISOFIX seats.