Hyundai Grand i10

WHEN: September 3, 2013

HOW MUCH: Rs 4.2 lakh (petrol) / Rs 4.95 lakh (diesel) est starting price

ENGINES: 1.2-litre petrol, 80 PS / 1.1-litre diesel, 70 PS

COMPETITION: Maruti Ritz, Ford Figo

Hyundai will bring in an all-new car to the Indian market – the new Grand i10. This new car is a replacement for the current-generation in most markets, but in India it will continue to be sold alongside the existing i10, slotting in between it and the i10. To justify the ‘grand’ epithet, Hyundai’s engineers have stretched the wheelbase by approximately 100 mm compared to the European-spec version of the new i10, to liberate more interior room.

The other big news is on the engine front. The new Hyundai Grand i10 will be powered by an all-new three-cylinder diesel engine, codenamed U2 VGT. This new 1.1-litre diesel engine is essentially a three-cylinder version of the 1.4-litre four-cylinder diesel found in the larger i20. Hyundai hasn’t revealed any specifications as yet, but power output is expected to be in the range of 70 PS.

There will also be the option of the popular 1.2-litre Kappa engine, which does duty in both the current i10 and i20. Five-speed manual gearboxes will be standard with both petrol and diesel versions, with the 1.2-litre Kappa petrol having the option of a 4-speed automatic transmission as well.

We do not have any images of the interiors as yet, but according to some sources, the new Grand i10 will have a host of segment-first features, including rear AC vents, electric folding mirrors, audio controls on the steering wheel, music system with Bluetooth and USB connectivity plus 1 GB of hard drive space to store your favourite music. Regular features like power steering, air-conditioning and front power windows are expected to be standard even on the base version. This being a Hyundai, customers have come to expect a lot of value-add in the form of features at a given price, and with this new Grand i10, it will be no different. This is Hyundai’s tried-and-trusted recipe to delight customers, and it is definitely working. We expect 4 or five trim levels, plus two engine options, and the petrol AT as well, taking the total number of variants to around 10!

These are pictures of the European version of the new i10. The Hyundai Grand i10 as sold in India will be longer, sitting on a wheelbase which is 100 mm longer. The extra length will be visible in the rear doors between the B- and C-pillars.

We haven’t seen the car in the flesh yet, but from these pictures you can see that the new Grand i10 is a smartly styled product, which moves smartly away from the ‘wet soap’ look of the existing i10. The new i10 borrows some styling clues from its brethren, but the car manages to look stylish without being over-the-top. Hyundai’s designers have displayed admirable restraint with this one.

Pricing of course is key, and that is something which will be revealed only on September 3. However, there are some pointers as to what the likely pricing of the new Hyundai Grand i10 could be. For starters, the cheapest diesel hatchback in the Hyundai range is the i20 diesel, with a starting price of Rs 6.0 lakh, ex-showroom. The Ford Figo LXi starts at Rs 4.6 lakh, while the Chevy Beat diesel starts at Rs 4.7 lakh. The cheapest diesel from Maruti, the Ritz LDi, starts at Rs 5.4 lakh. I would hazard a guess and say that prices for the new Grand i10 diesel would start at just under the Rs 5 lakh mark.

As far as the petrol Grand i10, powered by the 1.2-litre Kappa motor, I expect prices will start at around the Rs 4.2 lakh mark, which is about 30,000 more than the current i10. This will be a smart pricing and positioning strategy from Hyundai.

Much will ride on the new Grand i10, but given Hyundai’s widespread dealer network, and the strong equity the company already enjoys, this car has all the right ingredients to succeed. At the risk of repeating myself, the Indian customer is getting further spoilt for choice, and that is always only a good thing.

Hyundai's engineers have retuned the suspension, with optimised linkage points. A choppy ride was one of the flaws of the earlier car, and the company is confident the new Grand i10 is capable of setting a class benchmark for ride quality.

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BMW Pencils in 3 Series Gran Turismo

WHEN: June 2014

HOW MUCH: Rs 35 - 40 lakh

ENGINES: 2.0-litre diesel,185 PS, 380 Nm / 2.0-litre petrol, 245PS, 350 Nm

COMPETITION: Volvo XC60

BMW India will add yet another model line to its offerings in India, when it launches the 3 Series Gran Turismo, or 3 Series GT, in the country next year. The new BMW 3 Series GT will be produced at the Chennai facility, alongside the 3 Series sedan with which it shares most of its running gear.

So what is the 3 Series GT? Simply put, it’s a stretched, hatchback version of the current 3 Series. The wheelbase is 110 mm longer, and the car is 89 mm taller than the sedan. It’s also got a swooping coupe-like roofline, and a hatchback rear. It’s an answer to a question nobody asked, but BMW have gone ahead and built it anyway.

An increase in length has meant an increase in weight also. The 3 Series GT is 140 kilos heavier than its sedan brother.

It follows the same thought process that the 5 Series GT did, of offering the space and practicality of an estate car, but in a more stylised package. BMW seems to be making something of a habit of blurring the boundaries between different segments, but to its credit, the 3 Series GT does appear a tad more convincing than what the 5 Series GT did.

The front end is immediately reminiscent of the 3 Series sedan, but the lights and twin kidney grille elements are taller. There’s also an additional crease line along the length of the body, and the coup like roof is of course all-new. In fact, the 3 Series GT does manage to pull off looking like an attractive car in its own right.

**Inside, the 3 Series GT borrows the same dashboard from its sedan brother, but then that’s a good thing. BMW has also raised the seats by 59 mm, which means you get a more commanding driving position, while the company claims that rear legroom is 70 mm longer. The boot has 520 litres of luggage space, which is considerably more than what the sedan offers, while the rear seat back splits and folds in a 40:20:40 ratio to afford even more practicality.

**Power comes from a range of familiar engines, and while the 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder turbocharged petrol in the 335i probably won’t make it to India, expect the 4-cylinder 328i petrol, as seen in the sedan, to very much be a part of the GT’s engine line-up in India. The 2.0-litre 320d diesel will of course form the mainstay of the range, and there’s an even more powerful version of this same engine in the 325d, in a similar state of tune as seen in the recently-updated 5 Series sedan. All engines will come mated to the company’s slick 8-speed automatic gearbox.

The electrically operated hatchback with its twin motors have contributed to the rearward weight bias of the 3 Series GT.

The new 3 Series GT will be produced locally, and BMW India’s Chennai plant, and will be the eighth locally-produced model, after the 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, X1, X3 and Mini Countryman. Local assembly will mean that BMW will be able to price it competitively, but it will come at a premium compared to the 3 Series sedan. There is a substantial price gap in BMW’s line-up, especially between the 3 Series and 5 Series sedans, and the 3 Series GT will slot into this gap perfectly. We expect prices to start at Rs 35 lakh for the 320d, when it goes on sale in June next year.

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