Hyundai was speculated to be working on a compact sedan based on the i20 to replace the Accent, which is not doing as good as company expected it to. Because of the Accent, Hyundai is finding it hard to do well in the C segment in which it has only Accent to offer, that too only the petrol variant. So, an elongated version of i20 will be a good strategy to gain some chunk of this segment.
Extension of a popular hatchback into a sedan is not new in the Indian market which already boasts of Swift Dezire, Etios Liva and soon to join the crew is a sedan based on the Honda Brio. Further it doesn’t take much to transform a hatchback into sedan as almost everything including the cabin, platform etc. remains the same with an additional boot.
But it doesn’t seem quite easy with the i20 as it is currently one of the biggest available hatchbacks in the Indian market and if Hyundai goes on to add extra boot to it’s the length of the car, it would easily go into the compact sedan category. And if that happens it is going to lose all the excise benefits that its competitors in the Indian market like the Swift Dezire enjoys, which will make it cost much more than most of the cars in the segment as i20’s top diesel model is already priced at Rs.9 lakhs. So, it is wise that the company tries to develop a sedan out of i10 instead of i20.
But in case Hyundai actually succeeds in transforming i20 into a sub 4m sedan then it would undoubtedly lure some good buyers by increasing the competition. In another news, i10 diesel will be arriving quite earlier than expected since few sources have been heard saying that company has prepended its decision to launch i10 diesel. So, with this news on the run, one can easily expect to witness i10 diesel launch as soon as the first-quarter of 2013.
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