Hyundai Venue Compact SUV To Become Segment Leader Soon?

Hyundai Venue has garnered more than 33,000 bookings and is offered with a choice of one diesel and two petrol engines
Hyundai Motor India Limited’s debut in the sub-four-metre SUV segment has been going in the right direction thus far. The Venue endorsed as “India’s first connected SUV” saw 2,000 reservations from customers in the very first booking day and by the end of May 2019, a total of 7,049 units were dispatched across the country from Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.

Having been launched on May 21, the five-seater overtook Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Ford EcoSport in its opening month and was just over 1,700 units shy of the segment leader Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. It was reported earlier that Hyundai would be planning to deliver 15,000 units of the Venue by July 2019.

The South Korean auto major is said to be targetting sales of 8,000-9,000 units of the Venue every month in its first calendar year as well and its momentum is expected to continue into the coming months. With a total of 33,000 bookings already, do not be surprised if the Venue takes the leading position from Vitara Brezza sooner rather than later.

The Venue is aggressively priced from Rs. 6.50 lakh (ex-showroom) and it made world premiere at the 2019 New York International Auto Show and concurrently graced the Indian media. Loosely connected with the Carlino Concept showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo, the Venue has its range-topping 1.0L SX+ DCT variant costing Rs. 11.10 lakh (ex-showroom).

The Venue carries design traits of the latest global Hyundai models with the presence of sharp cascading front grille and split headlamp cluster with LED turn signals on top and the projector headlamps surrounded by LED Daytime Running Lights. The set of 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels and a compact rear end emphasise the overall youthful appeal.

Some of the highlighting features are eight-inch touchscreen HD infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, cloud-based voice recognition, 3-year complimentary Blue Link connectivity with embedded Vodafone-Idea SIM card helping in gaining access to 33 in-car connective features, multi-functional steering wheel with mounted controls, electric sunroof, reverse parking camera with dynamic guidelines, and so on.

It powered by a 1.0-litre turbocharged GDI petrol engine making 120 PS and 172 Nm; a 1.2-litre MPI petrol developing 83 PS and 115 Nm and a 1.4-litre diesel kicking out 90 PS and 220 Nm. The more powerful petrol unit is mated to the segment-first seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission while the others can be had with manual gearboxes.