The Hyundai Tucson came, saw and left India. Now in its next next generation, the new Tucson has not been officially confirmed for launch in the country. However multiple sightings of this CUV (crossover utility vehicle) suggest Hyundai is indeed interested to bringing back the vehicle to Indian roads. Now the Korean automaker plans to display the Tucson at the upcoming Auto Expo. This could be a good platform for the company to gauge customer feedback and conduct a small market survey to determine if they should launch the Tucson in India.
The Hyundai Tucson incorporates the Fluidic Sculpture design philosophy which has become common on Hyundai’s of today. A rival to the Honda CR-V internationally, if Hyundai go for local manufacturing, the company can instantly set the sales chart on fire by pricing the vehicle around Rs. 16 lakhs. This would also give the Mahindra XUV500 tough competition. Engines could be shared with the upcoming Sonata which would result in economies of scale. A market entry is yet uncertain as the Tucson will only be launched after the new Sonata and Elantra go on sale.
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Hyundai is feeling the heat of missing the 15L suv segment. So this effort. If they bring tucson as india built range they may suceed on price. Unlike last launch this time they have stiff challenge from duster, xuv.
In any case they have lost time. Tucson is a good option if they start working asap.
Looks good in White & other light colors, Black color a strict no-no.
Somehow I feel the fluidic design as a copy of BMW X1, one glance and it reminds us of BMW X1….
If this gen of tucson is also going to be brought in as a CBU, the prices are going to equally scary as the earlier tucson, remember this time around there is also the awesome xuv500. I think it would be best if Hyundai leaves the tucson alone and instead focus on the new elantra avante. The next generation civic is a mess and so is the corolla. The new elantra avante would therefore fill a huge void and out sell the former two put together!
Ganesh, its highly doubtful that Hyundai will go CBU with the Tucson when they are doing CKD with the Santa Fe.
It would be interesting that way, Faisal. 2WD with a diff lock alone and manual transmission diesel engine should be the way to go. CKD may be able to keep the price down to 12 odd lakhs for that package. SUV silhouette means means no diesel clatter embarrassments! ;)
Ganesh, Rs. 12 lakhs is being little too optimistic. Expect not less than Rs. 16 lakhs for the Hyundai Tucson.
Ha ha ha…maybe Faisal! But this car is going to be sold alongside the brilliant xuv500 with 3 rows of seats which costs only about that much. In Europe too, Tucson seems to be sold only around that cost. I’m sure bulk of the European nations also have a hefty import duty in one form or another. This Tucson could be built around the 4th generation elantra and not the new one. Hyundai therefore may not be too keen to do volumes. So yes, they could price it higher.
Ganesh, that is the issue. Hyundai does not want to play the volume game above the C-segment. Otherwise they can definitely surprise us all by pricing the Tucson at similar prices as the XUV500.
Ads on the Tucson have started to appear. So it won’t be long before we know the price.
Google alerts brought me to this site on the new Indian Elantra Avante, http://www.hyundaiavante.in/1/hyundai-avante-in-india/ . Is it their official site? Cos if it was, it was disappointing to learn that the Indian Elantra would be offered only with a 1.6 liter engine for the petrol lineup. I was hoping for Hyundai to offer the petrol Elantra to us unadulterated. Petrol is not going to sell in big numbers. So why not leave the 147 hp, 1.8 liter petrol motor as it is offered internationally.
Ganesh, that site is not the official website and Hyundai will definitely offer diesel engines on the Tucson and Elantra.
Thx for the clarification on that site, Faisal. It is comforting.
I’m not concerned about the diesel engine of the elantra. The 115 hp mill might be apt for the diesel range. What worried me was the petrol motor. I would like Hyundai India to bring the 147 HP, 1.8 liter petrol motor just like the elantra avante is offered elsewhere in the world. & ofcourse its also important for Hyundai India not to soften the suspension settings. ;)
Ganesh, 1.6-liter petrol most likely as it already powers the Verna. Hyundai would go for fuel efficiency over power. You looking for a petrol Elantra?
By the way don’t expect stiff suspension on any Hyundai car.
Ya Faisal, I was hoping to buy the petrol elantra avante. After all that I’v been reading about it in the intl press (147hp with stiff suspension), i came out really impressed. I thought that a worthy replacement for my 14 year old city had finally arrived ;) The 1.8 TSI did light my fual during the test drives but its dodgy clutch plate reputation and service record scare me away!
Ganesh, any particular reason to look at petrol Elantra?
Good question Faisal! I belong to the generation of guys for whom diesel noise levels are acceptable for MPVs and SUVs. The 3 box sedan however absolutely requires the silent stillness of a petrol motor :). Call it old fashioned but for some reason we just cannot bring ourselves to accept the diesel clatter in a sedan silhouette!
Ganesh, while I agree with you. You have to check out the refinement levels of a modern diesel vehicle. Even a sedan nowadays is very silent, running on diesel power. I had the same belief as you but a modern diesel changes all that.
Alright Faisal, will keep an open mind while checking out the diesel elantra avante. But do you really think noise levels are down in modern diesels? The diesel rattle even from new mercs and beemers makes me laugh! Diesel marques fans, excuse ;)
Ganesh, I feel Hyundai diesels are extremely refined. Have you driven the new Verna?
No Faisal, I did not try the new diesel Verna. Read about its passenger centric soft suspension setting and stayed away. A friend did have a lot of nice things to say about the accessories offered in that car. He said that the rear view TV integrated mirror featured in this car was only next to the Veyron! Diesel Hyundais does kindle some not-so-good memories too. The 1st generation 3-cylinder CRDI must have been a fantastic idea gone wrong. A relation owned an Accent powered by this engine and was unhappy with it. He said that he would always find all the wrong fluids in the wrong places in that engine! There would be diesel mixed with oil in the sump- because of leaky rings. There would be engine oil mixed with the coolant- because of leaky gaskets and so on. But I’m sure Hyundai have learnt their lessons and have improved their current crop of diesel motors. On the whole Diesel motors have come a long way so far as refinements go, no doubt. What however still needs improvement is the noise levels. Economically, diesel engines for my car did not make sense. Pl tell me if I’m missing something here ;). I own a diesel Innova which I use to munch the miles. The car, I use only for my drive to work. So we are talking 20,000 KMs / year max. Diesel motors command a 2 lakh premium over their petrol siblings. At that mileage, I don’t see myself being able to recover that premium in any meaning period of time. Next week is the Delhi, Auto fair, is’nt it? You guys must be excited about it and making all sorts of travel arrangements. Looking forward to your coverage of the event. Best of Luck!!
Ganesh, you need to drive the new Verna diesel asap. I say so, not for the suspension but only for the engine. You will be surprised how refined the motor is. As far as the Accent diesel goes, yes it was not so reliable but Hyundai has taken a massive leak since then. If you are looking at a petrol powered vehicle for fun, then you should look at the Skoda R S. I know maintenance is a bit high but since your running is less, you won’t be servicing it that often. Yes the Auto Expo is coming and its the most exciting event every two years ;-)
Alright Faisal, Will check out the diesel Verna one of these days. Had it been the 2 liter vRS which Skoda had brought, I would have blindly bought it no matter what! But this half leg 1.8 TSI vRS is annoying. The new petrol Fiesta really looked like THE car. A friend after test driving it said that driving the car felt like orgasm without it!! I had to try too ;) Rajshree Ford was kind enough to bring home a car for the test drive. There were two things that shied me away. 1. I found the engine underpowered. 2. What looked like a perfectly sculptured huge greenhouse from the outside shrunk to nothing in the inside, especially the rear. Sorry Ford, but the Nano has more room at its rear than this Fiesta.
Ganesh, if you are looking for power in the vRS, you can opt for tuning packages, which can boast the vehicle to insane BHP. As far as the Fiesta goes, its a wonderful car, slightly overpriced and rear legroom is really disappointing to say the least.
true faisal, While the Fiesta internationally gets the 1.6 liter engine, I wonder why this 1.5 liter engine for India, especially for a chassis which seems to be able to handle a lot more?!
About remaped chipsets, I’v thought about it many times for my Innova but could never really commit to one. Thats probably not my cup of tea :)
Ganesh, Ford has reduced engine capacity to increase fuel economy. Its the same engine, modified to be more frugal.
As far as chips go, don’t try it on an Innova, the clutch is very weak and gets very quick wear and tear.
Faisal, excuse but to improve effy, there is direct injection, there is turbo charging and Ford were also pioneers in the use of light weight Composite Graphite Iron alloy in its cars. For that asking price all that would have been possible. :)
The Innova does have a weird clutch behavior. It responded like it was a lakh KMs old right from day 1! I however wouldn’t attribute it to its weakness. I think herds of Toyota engineers would have spent sleepless nights to get the clutch to respond this way. I’v heard of Toyota’s adamancy to stick to particular state of tunes. In this case a MPV state of tune. Thats y, they’v also got the steering, brakes and suspension to respond in a similar neutralized manner :( After six long years and 1.30 lakh KMs, the vehicle is finally loosening up and I’m beginning to have some fun!
Ganesh, Ford has just heard you and are getting EcoBoost to its cars in India. But I guess Ford wants to make hay while sun shines and hence the premium pricing.
Toyota’s are known to be neutral in behaviour and even though the Innova is an MPV, you will be surprised on how fun it is.
Hi Faisal, That info was interesting & so had to google on eco boost engines. Noticed that there was also a 1 liter, 3-cylinder mill in the making. Don’t petrol engines less than 1.2 liters attract tax sops in our country? This engine in the Fiesta would make it the 1st sedan in our country to avail this tax rebate. Though it might produce only about the same power as the current 1.5 l engine, it could weigh about 100 Kgs less and that much less weight from the front axle of a well sorter Ford chassis means a lot of fun ;) . Bmers are also said to developing 3 cylinder range of engines for use even upto the 3 series! So this type of engines should be the way ahead. All this however also means more waiting for me :’(
Toyotas can drive great, yes. I use to own a Qualis before moving to the Innova. Its go-cart like structural rigidity made it a very involving vehicle to drive. In its days this ugly duckling could have easily been 1 of the best driver centric vehicles. Toyota’s new neutralized drive character however refuses to grow on me!:)
Ganesh, yes. Petrol engines less than 1.2-liter in capacity do attract excise sops. The Fiesta won’t be getting this engine because the Fiesta is more than 4-meters in length. BMW will use the 1.5-liter engine in the i-Series first and the 3-Series will only get it later.
To have a driver centric Toyota car, you have to opt for the FT86 ;-)
less than 1.2 liter and less than 4 meters both, in order to avail the excise sop? Wow, thats too sharp, dont u think?
FT86?! For a guy in his 40s and kids moking to college in months, I’m not even allowed to dream of such things anymore! :-)
Ganesh, yes both the criterias need to be met. That is the reason we see so many manufacturers come up with compact sedans.
We all have the right to dream, if not now, probably after retirement ;-)
Wow, thats a tall order. Will a 3 box sedan ever qualify to avail the benifit in that case?
Ya, a super car clubbed retirement plan would be a wonderful dream to nurture. thx :-)
Ganesh, yes a 3-box will classify as a small car and the Indigo CS is one of them.
Wow, that must be a big USP for that car. We Indians like to plan our taxes to the last rupee. That’s y people like Vinay (1st post of this discussion) and I dread by the idea of a CBU. But the reason the crowds are still staying away from buying this car must be because of its proportions. I think an aeroback type boot lid (like in the Skoda Octavia) would have been a more faithful design to execute this idea.