Hyundai Creta Revealed: First impressions, images, specs, variants and expected price

Hyundai India has officially revealed its highly anticipated Creta compact SUV, which is expected to take the compact crossover segment by storm. Our sources tell us that prospective customers are already making a beeline at the Hyundai dealerships, who are unofficially taking a booking amount of Rs 50,000 to secure a unit for them. If some other reports are to be believed, some dealerships are charging as much as Rs 75,000 to 1 lakh over whatever the launch price may be to ensure quick deliveries upon launch.

Read our detailed road test review of the Hyundai Creta Diesel 1.6 MT and AT here 

You can read our first drive review of the Creta here

We were present at a grand unveiling ceremony organized by Hyundai today at its Chennai plant to have a detailed understanding of the promising new car model. The unveiling of the compact cross was followed by a short drive within the company’s production facility. Photography of the new product was prohibited at the event. However, Motoroids already have the images of the car, as were the first to bring to you the totally undisguised spy images of the interior and exterior of the car a few days back. You can read our earlier reports on the SUV here. We will also bring you the first driving impressions of the car in a short while so stay tuned. In the meantime, read ahead to know in detail about the specifications, details, features and variants of the Creta

The Creta is a slightly tweaked, international version of Hyundai’s China specific SUV called the iX25.  The new compact SUV will position Hyundai into the highly lucrative compact SUV segment where products like the Ford Ecosport and Renault Duster have turned the fortunes around for their respective carmakers almost overnight.

Good ground clearance along with a muscular, rugged appeal to appear more suited for the notorious Indian road conditions, and a perceived sense of comfort and safety in the Indian mindset has made this category extremely popular. Hyundai has established itself successfully in the sub 15 lakh price category, a segment where most other economy-car manufacturers have not been able to prove their mettle. People rate the brand highly for its finish, interior quality, durability and premium appeal, and are ready to pay a fair premium for its products over its competitors. The Creta will reap the benefits of that opinion and is expected to turn good volumes for Hyundai in India, along with a fair margin.

The Hyundai Creta has been highly localized to keep the costs low, and while we cannot expect it to take the very attractively priced Ecosport head-on on the price front, it is expected to arm-wrestle the Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and the Mahindra XUV500 as well to an extent.

Engine and Transmission

Hyundai Creta will come powered by one petrol and two diesel engines. Petrol power will be provided by a 1.6 Dual VTVT engine. Diesel power comes in the form of a U2 1.4 CRDi and U2 1.6 CRDi VGT diesel engines. The engines are said to have been tuned for high fuel efficiency, though no fuel efficiency figures have been revealed yet.

The 1.6 liter CRDi diesel also gets a 6-speed Automatic transmission. The power output figures of the three engines are provided below

• 1.6 Gamma Dual VTVT petrol:  123 PS
• 1.6 CRDi VGT (MT/AT) Diesel: 128 PS
• 1.4 CRDi Disel: power has not been specified, but the engine produced 90 PS on the Elite i20.
• The Automatic Transmission with 1.6 CRDi VGT is a first- in segment diesel AT offering

Variants and Features

The Hyundai Creta will be offered in four variants – Base, S, SX and SX(O). Our man at the event, Arjun Dharve reported a few important things about the interior which are detailed below

• Rear legroom is adequate
• Shoulder room at the back seat is good only for two occupants. Seating three there is a squeeze
• Rear seats have their own twin AC vents
• Rear seats can be folded flat, though they don’t have the split functionality
• Ride quality is good for the back benchers
• Boot space is pretty good, especially when compared to the Ecosport

The top of the line SX (O) variant will boast features as listed below.

• Projector headlamps w/LED Positioning lamp
• 17” Diamond Cut Alloys
• 7” infotainment system with navigation and 6 speakers
• Smart key with Push button Start
• 6 Airbags (includes Sides & Curtains)

Here we have the official list of features on the Creta

STYLING

• Projector Headlamps
• 17”Diamond Cut Alloy Wheels
• LED Positioning lamps
• Static  bending lights
• Leather seats
• Shark fin antenna 

HI-TECH FEATURES

• Audio Video Navigation system
• 5” touchscreen audio system
• Supervision Cluster
• Smart key w/ Push button start 

CONVENIENCE

• FATC w/ Cluster ionizer
• Electric folding ORVM*
• Rear AC vents
• Steering mounted controls
• 1 GB internal memory* 

SAFETY

• Dual Airbags
• Side & Curtain Airbags*
• ABS
• Reverse Parking Camera*
• Electronic Stability Control
• VSM
• HAC

Styling

Styled using the Hyundai Fluidic Sculpture Version 2.0 design philosophy, seen first in India on the Hyundai Elite i20, which, by the way, is selling like hotcakes, the Creta with its muscular, angular looks and generous chrome splattering should appeal to the Indian taste.

A modern Hyundai look with a singular hexagonal grille, muscular styling with a sharp focus on materials and finishing of the car makes the Creta really stand out. It’s really a nice looking car, and that’s one of the primary reasons why people are falling over each other to book one without even knowing the price.

Design elements like chrome treatment to the triple slat, diamond cut alloys and projector lamps are available only on the top of the line variants though

Construction and body

Hyundai is claiming using advanced engineering techniques high quality material like ultra-high tensile steel for best in class body rigidity, structural strength and crash performance. The company is calling this light-weight, high-strength construction as the Hive Structure. A very interesting aspect of the HIVE Structure is the reinforced roof structure with multiple cross members for enhanced strength and more loading capacity

Hyundai is citing usage of “Ring-Shaped Frames” within the structure. Each pillar, including the centre pillar, body side frames and bottom are positioned in a ring-like layout, all connected to form a protective shell. This, apparently, ensures a significant increase in body stiffness for more strength, better handling and ride quality.

The Creta is also claimed to boast great NVH characteristics thanks to use of enhanced sound absorption materials and improved engineering design of engine, transmission and body structural parts. Other measures to reduce NVH are higher thickness of dash panel, anti-vibration pads on floor panel and optimization of central floor tunnel area rigidity.

Other salient features are frontal & side cross members for better crash worthiness, use of larger diameter weld joints & use of reinforced side members having tailor welded beams (TWB) on door panels. Front end features bolted type modular structure to reduce the maintenance cost

Price

The Creta is expected to retail for a price ranging between Rs 8 to 11.5 lakh

Stay tuned for the first driving impressions of the car in a short while. Enjoy the image gallery below in the meanwhile