Earlier this week, the spy shots of 2018 Hyundai Santro came in courtesy of our friends at Rushlane which confirms the Korean automaker’s plan to revive its most successful brand name in India. With the introduction of the new Santro set for early 2018, perhaps the 2018 Auto Expo, the company’s plan to release the product for sale is on track.
The image above was posted by our friends at Team-bhp.com and marks the commencement of production of the engine that will power the upcoming car. The engine is one of the most complicated and time-consuming parts of a vehicle, they are usually manufactured first and stored, ready to be mounted on the chassis when the production begins.
Code-named Hyundai AH2, the 2018 Hyundai Santro Engine is expected to be an 800cc to a 1000cc engine and further details of the same will be officially revealed as we near the launch. According to the source of the image, the first petrol engine to power the 2018 Santro was manufactured six weeks ago at HMIL’s Tamil Nadu facility to carry out real-world testing of the engine and the budget hatchback. As reported earlier, no further details pertaining to the size or specifications of the engine are unknown right now.
Hyundai India Motor Limited’s MD and CEO, Mr. Y. K. Koo confirmed that the official market launch of the AH2 will take place in the second half of 2018. He also confirmed that the AH2 will be the first car from Hyundai to feature the AMT technology. The employees working at the company’s Tamil Nadu plant are calling the AH2 the “new Santro” but company officials claim to not have finalized a name yet. The name “Santro” holds a great stance in Hyundai’s history and that is the reason the company is taking its sweet time to cement it. One example of such failure can be recalled in case of Maruti Suzuki wherein the company chose two of its most popular and best-selling names i.e. “Alto” and “800” and combined them to badge the Alto 800, which turned out to be a blunder and for multiple reasons, the failure of the product led to a huge loss in the brand name(s).
Upon launch, expect the 2018 Santro’s range to start under INR 4 lakh mark ex-showroom. The upcoming hatchback from Hyundai will compete directly with the Maruti Suzuki Celerio and the Tata Tiago. The diesel version of the same is unlikely as this segment is dominated by petrol variants.
Source- Team-BHP
