New Hyundais: Some launched, some coming

Hyundai India, which has been marketing its 'Santro' as the 'ideal first car' for the Indian buyer, has in a way gone head on against the Maruti 800 which advertised on similar lines with their 'mera sapna meri maruti' campaign.

Now, in the run to make the Maruti 800 feel the heat, the Koreans are developing a 800cc engine for an entry level car which would be positioned below the Santro. To keep things competitive, the car will be priced below 2-lakh (on-road) for the the base model, with topper variants bridging the gap to the Santro. The car will follow the 'i' naming convention and will go on sale by early 2010.

The i20, which has been the talk of the town already, is set for a Paris Motor Show debut. Sales will commence in December.

Other launches for 2008 have been made this week in the form of the Santro LPG, a tweaked Accent GLE (now re-christened as the Accent Executive) and limited edition of version of the Verna 1.6 (with new interiors).