Yet again, the all new 2014 Hyundai i10 has been caught testing in India. Frankly speaking, we have lost count of the times the all new 2014 Hyundai i10 hatchback has been caught testing on Indian soil and interestingly, we have also lost count of the number of rumours related to new hatchback.
Regulars here would remember that we posted in detail when it recently emerged that the Indian subsidiary of the Korean auto giant plans to soon launch as many as three new cars in India and one of these new cars might be a hatchback that would be positioned between the i10 and the i20. This new car could be the new 2014 i10, which would be then sold under the i15 moniker. There are also some reports that state that the new car might be called ‘Brilliant’.
The new car would be offered in both diesel and petrol engine variants. It may be noted that diesel car sales have been on a rise in India since some time now and the current i10, which once clocked segment topping sales numbers, is losing out to rivals because of the lack of a diesel engine. It is being said that the 2014 Hyundai i10 aka Hyundai i15 will get a diesel engine variant that would be powered by the carmaker’s 1.1L CRDI oil burner. The petrol variants will use the same 1.2 litre kappa motor that does duty on current i10 and i20.
There is a clear gap of about INR 1 lakhs between the prices of the i10 and the i20 and we reckon that the prices of the i10 might head south soon before the introduction of the all new i10/Brilliant/i15. This difference in prices of i10 and the i20 might be sufficient for HMIL to position the new hatchback between its current B segment models.
Hyundai would also discontinue some of the variants of the i10 to avoid any cannibalization of sales between its three hatchbacks.
The i15 would shave a starting price in vicinity of INR 4 lakhs and expect it to be launched in India during this year’s festive season.
Pics- FB