Indian Autos blog

Marketed as the ‘Your First Car’, the Hyundai Santro is one such car that has changed fortunes for Hyundai. With its naive looks and sturdy reliability, the Santro put Hyundai on the Indian Automotive page. No longer was Hyundai viewed as just another foreign manufacturer here to make a quick buck. This car clocked another milestone in the history when, Hyundai Motor India Ltd announced that its ‘Made in India’  [ Read More ]

You’ve got to hand it to Maruti Suzuki. When they say refresh, they mean new headlamps, bumpers and wheels. Take for example the new Estilo – it looks entirely different when viewed head-on.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the new Santro. It looks like a school kid in his art hour was locked into the Santro and asked to decorate it – the silver A.C vent is so much like content in a 4th grader’s art book.

Then there’s that front grill – Economic times reports “the new Santro has many added features to raise the bar for cars in this segment.” The next sentence, it goes on to list the body colored radiator grille!

I have an idea to seriously raise the bar – why not paint the front windshield in body color?

No, we’re not trying to pick up a fight, Hyundai. See the gorgeous Hyundai i40/Sonata YF we spoke about this morning – we truly believe this is Hyundai’s best looking product till date.

And glance at what the Indian division can come up with – a Santro with a one-of-a-kind body colored radiator grille and silver A.C vents. What was Hyundai thinking when they made this car? Why did they just not leave it with the i10′s front seats and rear parcel tray?

Good luck!

Hyundai’s boxy yet once best selling car, the Santro Xing, which was sidelined after their next gen hatchback ‘i10′ was launched, seems to be back in action.

The Hyundai Santro sales figures have risen to an extent that, Hyundai is now looking to generate almost equal numbers from both, the Santro and the ‘i10′, in 2009. This comes at a time when manufacturers are cutting production and processing pink slips to their staff.

HS Lheem, Managing Director, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The Santro is doing much better than our expectations. In 2009, we are looking at almost the same overall sales number as last year or around 2.3 lakh units. Of this, Santro and ‘i10′ are expected to contribute 85,000 units each.”