Hyundai AH2 (new Santro) India launch in October; more details revealed

Hyundai Motor India Limited is inching closer to the launch of its new small car codenamed AH2. The South Korean carmaker is now crowdsourcing a name for the new car and over half of the response suggests to go for Santro. While the company is yet to take a final call on the name, the revealing date has been scheduled for October 9.

Hyundai India now confirms it will start accepting bookings for the new Santro from October 10, a day after the debut. Hyundai expects huge demand for the new Santro and hence bookings may halt on October 22, a day before the car's launch (October 23). The company is expected to resume orders after a short hiatus.

Hyundai has already released the sketch image and it confirms new Santro will have a tall-boy stance in line with the original model launched in 1998. The image also suggests a kink in the window line which is expected in the new compact SUV from them in 2019. It could be a new design element of new Hyundai vehicles.

New Hyundai Santro is expected to get cascading front grille, fog lamps, alloy wheels, reverse camera and LED tail lamps as standard. The car may feature plastic dashboard finished in black, according to spy shots. The test mules spotted with three-spoke multi-function steering wheel and the instrument cluster consists of a speedometer and tachometer.

Hyundai India will also load the car with many premium features that include 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a reverse camera, two airbags and ABS could be standard.

Hyundai is expected to plonk 1086cc petrol mill in the new Santro. The company will rework the engine to make it BS-VI compliant, because the standard comes into effect in April 2020. The mill is expected to develop nearly 70bhp of power and fuel efficiency of about 20.1kmpl. Apart from the five-speed manual transmission, the new hatchback may also get Automated Manual Transmission (AMT).