Oven fresh spy shots of the 2012 Hyundai i20 have surfaced yet again. Two white Fluidic i20′s were caught in Sriperambadur by a Team-BHPian undergoing tests along with the current i20. Hyundai has recently stopped production of the old model to make way for the new model. The official global debut of the new Hyundai i20 is set for early March at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The Indian launch is expected to happen by mid-March, with deliveries starting immediately. Hyundai always dispatches the cars to the dealers much before the launch so keep an eye out for that.

The set of changes have been rigorously discussed before but the new spy pics give us some more hint at what to expect in the 2012 Hyundai i20. The i20 which runs on 185/65/14 rubber is all set to get 195/60/15 tyres. The upgrade to 15-inch wheels with 8-spoke alloy wheels. If you look closely at the two picture right below, you will notice the profile of the tyres which are different giving away the fact that the 2012 Hyundai i20 will indeed sport 15-inch wheels. Hopefully Hyundai has altered the suspension too which should offer better ride quality even with lower profile rubber.

But why is Hyundai testing the 2012 i20 Facelift so rigorously. There are no mechanical changes to the car so what is making them spend so much time and energy on tests? Well, these tests could be very well part of regular routine for Hyundai, but who knows they might be aiming for better fuel efficiency with the new model and must be tweaking the ECU accordingly. A wild speculation could be that Hyundai might just offer the top end model with the Verna’s 1.6-litre heart but that will shoot costs astronomically.

For those who have already booked the Hyundai i20 and are waiting for delivery, we advise you to wait for the new model. There is a price hike expected but the changes made to the new i20 make the extra price you pay worth it. Remember, the Fluidic sculpture at the front is reason enough to wait and get the facelifted Hyundai i20. The second generation i20 is expected to be launched in 2014 and will get mechanical upgrades as well.

Update (13/02/2012) - Our good friends at IAB have posted fresh spy pictures of the 2012 Hyundai i20 Facelift, which showcases LED lights on the car. The lights are switched on and we speculate that the Fluidic i20 could get day-time running lights. The front seems to be inspired from its elder sibling, the Hyundai i30. The rear has been worked on as well with bigger tail lights and a revised tail gate.

The Hyundai i20′s interior gets slight revision, including the addition of a call and answer button on the steering wheel. The center console now sports bigger knobs along with chrome inserts. The AC vents are now mounted vertically instead of the horizontal vents on the current model. Not all of these changes will make it to the Indian model as the interiors snapped are of a left-hand drive version of the Hyundai i20.

Source – Team-BHP and IndianAutosBlog

Hyundai has halted bookings of the i20 in India as the production of the current i20 has been briefly stopped. The Korean automaker will soon be launching the new i20 facelift, which will get minor updates. The 2012 Hyundai i20 is all set to debut globally at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show early next month. Production of the Fluidic Hyundai i20 is set to begin in a couple of weeks time as the company looks at launching the first update of the i20. Those who have already booked the i20 and have not got delivery will have their bookings converted into the new one. While others can unofficially book the upgraded model right away.

Hyundai was rumored to unveil the i20 facelift at the 2012 Auto Expo but delayed it. The car has been spied multiple time in and around Hyundai’s facility in Chennai. The Fluidic i20 was also spotted winter testing up north and will be getting a 1.6-litre GDI engine from the Elantra in Europe. The Indian i20 will not be getting too many changes to the car mechanically, with the 1.2-litre petrol engine getting i10′s variable valve timing technology. Expect a slight price hike on the car, leaving only the Santa Fe in the Hyundai line-up Fluidic-less!

Hyundai will take the wraps of the i20 facelift at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in March 2012. The Fluidic i20 won’t have any major changes and the Korean automaker has already started to tease, with a right hand side of the car’s front being showcased on one of its international websites. We have just mirrored the image to give you a better glimpse of the upcoming car. The front is very similar to the Verna. The LEDs are not going to make it to India, instead we will get chrome on both the fog lights and the grille. Interiors remain unchanged with slight changes to colours of the dashboard and seat fabric. The biggest mechnical change would be the addition of variable valve timing on the 1.2-litre petrol engine of the i20. Don’t you think the facelifted i20 looks very similar to what MotorBeam rendering specialist Zaid Muhammed envisioned?

Meanwhile this is the front of the Fluidic Hyundai Verna, which is where the Fluidic i20 takes alot of influence.

Update - Our friends at IndianAutosBlog inform us that it is the i30 teaser and not the i20!

The 2012 Hyundai i20 Facelift was spotted testing in the snow, which reiterates the fact that Hyundai will be launching the Fluidic i20 globally soon. The Hyundai i20 was first launched in 2008 and 2012 is the perfect time for the company to give its supermini a slight facelift. An all new model of the i20 will only arrive by 2014, so the facelift of the i20 will server as a stop gap measure before the next generation car arrives. Heavy camouflage on the spied car prevents us from making out the differences but all new head lights and grille are apparent.

Hyundai has upped the testing of the i20 Facelift, which has been spotted multiple times in and around Chennai. The spy shots on this page make us believe that the car was spotted somewhere in northern Europe. Although very few mechanical changes are present in the car, Hyundai is conducting cold weather tests to ensure reliability is maintained in the new model. The new grille, wheel caps and tail lamps seem to be the biggest changes to the 2012 Hyundai i20. On the inside, slight change of colours along with addition of new features will keep the i20 fresh till the next gen model arrives. Repeated sightings point to market introduction sooner than we think!

Spy Pictures Source – AutoEvolution

The Hyundai i20 Facelift has been spotted multiple times on test, as the launch of the 2012 model of the premium hatchback from Korean automaker nears. We at MotorBeam could not wait to remove the camouflage for our readers and that is where MotorBeam rendering specialist Zaid Muhammed stepped in and did the honours. Zaid has given his artistic impression of the upcoming Hyundai i20 Facelift, wherein he has rendered the new model based on the spy shots. The front takes in heavy cues from the Fluidic Verna, with both the head lights and the fog lights similar to the Verna. The wheel caps and alloy wheels get a new design, while the side remains almost unchanged.

The front end change might not be big, but translates into a whole lot better looking car. The Fluidic styling looks very attractive and would make many to mistake the i20 Facelift as the Verna. The Hyundai i20 and Verna would soon be what the Polo and Vento have been with similar looking front ends. The advantage for Hyundai is not only in terms of cost, due to sharing of parts but also in creating aspirational value for the i20, which could be known as the hatchback version of the hugely successful Verna. On the inside, slight upgrades to the interior colours along with the addition of a few features are expected. A slight price hike too would be made, when the new i20 goes on sale this April.

The upcoming Hyundai i20 Facelift continues its testing routine around Hyundai’s Chennai plant. The Hyundai i20 was first launched in India in 2008 (29th December to be precise) and has been long due for a mid-life facelift. Although the facelift is not drastic, prospective customers are equally excited to get hold of the updated model. Sources tell us that an end March and early April launch of the new i20 is quite likely. The most significant changes to the i20 would be the addition of the Fluidic styling to the car, which has seen threat from the new Maruti Suzuki Swift and the Volkswagen Polo.

Other than the slight changes to the exteriors of the car, we can expect the interiors to have received slight colour upgrades. The mechanicals will remain largely unchanged and the i20 will continue to use the current crop of petrol and diesel engines to power it. The petrol motor will get VTT tech to boost efficiency of this super-mini. This is not the first time the i20 facelift has been spied. Earlier on our reader Ajith Kumar had send us some pictures he snapped off the same car, with the most clear and high resolution shots coming from our friends at IndianAutosBlog.

Source – Motor Vikatan on Facebook via IAB

The Fluidic Hyundai i20 has been spotted again, this time by our long standing reader Ajith Kumar Gopalakrishnan. As can be seen in the pictures, this is the same car which has been spotted before, with heavy camouflage at the front and rear. The side profile showcases nothing new at all, with the only apparent change being the new wheel caps. Hyundai was initially rumored to release the facelifted i20 at the upcoming Auto Expo but the new i20 will be launched only in April. Not many changes are present on the Fluidic Hyundai i20, with the biggest change being the Fluidic sculpture at the front. The tail lamps will see minute revision as well. This upgrade to the i20 is quite similar to what Hyundai has done to the i10 in 2010.

Coming to the interiors of the Hyundai i20, the Korean automaker will give new fabrics to the car. There won’t be any significant changes to the vehicle and the interiors are going to look largely unchanged. The instrument cluster will not be blue (just like all other Hyundai vehicles) and small features will be added to the interiors. There will be no change to the mechanicals of the car and the Hyundai i20 will continue to be powered by the fantastic three engines it currently uses. Prices will be revised upwards, but only slightly.

Everyone knows how serious Hyundai is about its new Fluidic design language, with even its cheapest and smallest car the Eon getting the design language. Now only two vehicles from Hyundai’s stable are left without the Fluidic touch. One is the Santa Fe, which has been spied internationally with camouflage, hiding its new sharp look. The other vehicle is the Hyundai i20, which is all set to flaunt its Fluidic sculpture in early 2012. Spied around Chennai by Vikram Viswanathan (an IndianAutosBlog reader), the new i20 has heavy camouflage but the new headlights are quite visible. The rear too sees some minor design tweaks but the overall structure of the Hyundai i20 remains unchanged.

Hyundai might showcase the 2012 i20 Facelift at the upcoming Auto Expo. There is little doubt that the Korean automaker will revise prices upwards next year and the facelift to the i20 will help the company to do so easily. The addition of a sharper front along with chrome, new headlamps, redesigned foglamps, new wheel caps, new alloy wheels will make the i20 look premium (not that its not now). The interiors will be largely unchanged but Hyundai might just play around a bit with colours. The engines and features will be untouched.

Spy Pictures Source – IAB

The complete Hyundai line up except the i20 and Santa Fe have got the Fluidic design language. Hyundai is already working on the Santa Fe facelift internationally, which is brought in as a CBU from Korea. The i20 facelift is also on the cards, as the car is now three years old and camouflaged cars have already been spotted in Europe. The new Hyundai i20 will be launched at the 2012 Auto Expo and will look quite similar to the i10 from the front. There will not be any major changes to the car except slight tweaks to the interiors. A price hike is certain and most manufacturers hike prices in the new year.

The Hyundai i20 has been doing decent numbers and demand has been extremely good in India as well as internationaly markets. The Korean automaker had recently shifted production to Turkey, with the initial batches of the i20 rolling out of Chennai. Hyundai offers three engine options on the i20 across a range of variants. Could the new i20 feature a revised suspension, offering better ride and handling. This could make the car appeal to enthusiasts who are looking for a fun to drive hatchback.

Rendering Source – Overdrive

A few months back, Hyundai had updated the i20 range. Other than the addition of new features and cosmetic changes to both the interior and exterior, the company had given the i20′s diesel version a 6-speed manual gearbox. However the company has now gone back to a 5-speed manual gearbox for the i20 CRDi, which is powered by a 1.4-liter diesel motor, producing 90 bhp of power. The reason to remove one gear has been attributed to cost reduction and differentiation of the i20 from the new Fluidic Verna, which uses a same engine and gearbox. However there will be no price reduction and the 5-speed gearbox will help Hyundai in increasing its margins on the i20 diesel.

Edit – A price reduction of Rs. 10,000/- has been undertaken by Hyundai on the i20 diesel with 5-speed manual gearbox.

Source – CarWale