Hyundai's new small car to be named on October 4

It is not secret anymore that Hyundai Motor India limited is working on a new small car. The model in question has been called as AH2 and 'Family Design Concept' for now while production spec has been rumoured with the name Santro.

Hyundai Motor India now has confirmed that it will reveal the name of its new small car on October 4, 2018. The company is tight-lipped about the production name while the car will go on sale in the last week of October.

A report in Autocar claims the new small car that fills the narrow gap between the Eon and the Grand i10 will be called Santro, albeit with a suffix. It needs to be noted that Hyundai has christened the second generation of the Santro in as Santro Xing when it was introduced way back in 2003. A similar strategy is also expected to the 2018 Santro.

Launched in 1998 and discontinued in 2015, the original Santro was the car that helped Hyundai to set foot in India. The tallboy design was the one of the USPs of the original Santro that ensured easy ingress and egress. Spy shots of the new model so far indicate the new Santro will also feature tallboy design.

The new Santro will feature Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design philosophy and is expected to get new cascading front grille, fog lamps, alloy wheels, reverse camera and LED tail lamps as standard. The car is expected to get a 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. The car's door panels and a-pillar in the beige finish while front seats come with fixed headrests wrapped in dual-tone upholstery.

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 100Nm of torque. In addition, a 1.2-liter petrol mill developing 85bhp is also rumoured with the new Santro while Hyundai has no plan to introduce a diesel engine. Apart from the five-speed manual transmission, the new hatchback may also get Automated Manual Transmission (AMT).

Source: Autocar