The Hyundai i20 was launched with a diesel engine a few weeks back. Customers felt it was priced beyond their expectation and Hyundai was quick to defend themselves citing export content as a reason for higher cost.
Hyundai, as we said before, is planning to launch the i10 with a CRDI 1.1-liter engine. The company is planning to setup a facility for producing engines locally that will bring down the cost of the i10 and the i20 CRDI by up to 15%. At present the CRDI engine is exported and the 1.1-liter engine could also be transplanted to the entry level Santro in the future.
News about the Hyundai i10 diesel is sparse, the last time we heard about such a thing was a few months back. Reports claimed the diesel car would come in two variants – one with a 1.4-liter diesel and another with a minuscule 1.1-liter CRDI engine.
Now a Iranian publication, Iran Daily, reports a 1.2-liter diesel i10 is ready to be unleashed.
Plonking a diesel engine in a i10 would make it at least 25% more costly than the petrol model. The line-up then would need re-working as large scale cannibalization would happen, the i20, Getz and the i10 Kappa could find themselves in a spot of bother.
The best way out of this situation is for Hyundai to wait for the diesel Chevrolet Spark, and our source in Japan tells us Suzuki’s A-Star is getting ready for a diesel engine next year. Hyundai could use the plot of these manufacturers to carefully device the i10 diesel’s price strategy.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company, is planning to advance the rollout schedule in India for the diesel variant of its new small car, i10, from the earlier deadline of 2010 to end 2008 or early 2009. This will follow the launch of its much anticipated i20 model which is a couple of months away. According to Heung Soo Lheem, Managing Director [ Read More ]
