Hyundai To Launch Three New Cars In 2018 — Includes A Renault Kwid Rival

Talking to ET Auto, Rakesh Srivastava, director, sales & marketing at Hyundai Motor India, said, "2017 was a year of excellence for Hyundai, wherein the company focused on delivering quality and optimum production capacity utilisation. We aim to sustain our growth momentum in 2018, led by an all-new product entering a new segment, which will bring us, incremental buyers," said Srivastava.

Hyundai has exceeded its domestic sales of 5.2 lakh units in 2017 led by the newly launched Hyundai Verna. With the new entry-level car, the company is looking to increase its sales by 7 lakh units in 2018. The new entry-level car codenamed AH2 will compete with the likes of the new generation Maruti Alto and the Renault Kwid.

Also in the pipeline are the Hyundai Creta facelift and the Elite i20 facelift, which will be launched later this year. Additionally, the company is looking to bring its sub-four metre SUV codenamed QXi, which will be positioned below the Rs 10 lakh SUV segment.

Hyundai is also evaluating of introducing a seven-seater Creta, and a micros SUV positioned below the QXi; however, the company has not confirmed the plans.

DriveSpark Thinks!

The entry-level car segment in India is dominated for a while by the humble Maruti Alto, with Renault Kwid trying to gain market, which it has not been very successful. Hyundai did bring the Eon to rival the Alto but was found to be pricier and never really bring higher sales to the company.

With the new entry-level car, Hyundai has been rumoured to bring back its most popular 'Santro' name and this new car could be the all-new Hyundai Santro.