Speaking to the media at the launch of the new Hyundai Verna, Mr Y K Koo, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India Limited today confirmed the introduction of a new compact car in India in the second half of 2018.
The new Hyundai compact car launch will also mark the debut of Hyundai's Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) developed in-house by the manufacturer.
When asked about the introduction of AMT technology in India, Koo responded by saying, "We have plans to introduce AMT. Next year we are planning to launch family oriented product with AMT."
This new product could very well be the born again Hyundai Santro rumoured to arrive in 2018. The compact car could sandwich the Eon and Grand i10 to rival the Tata Tiago and Maruti Celerio. According to a report from April 2016, Hyundai's new compact car is codenamed 'AH' and that it could be styled as a crossover.
Back in May 2016, HMIL confirmed that the company will bring AMT to the market in 2018. Its debut on the upcoming Hyundai compact car will be followed by implementation on B-segment models. Currently, all Hyundai products with an automatic transmission feature a torque converter. Besides being expensive to maintain, these transmissions have a negative impact on the fuel efficiency. With the introduction of AMTs, Hyundai will finally be able to challenge Maruti's Auto Shift Gear equipped models.
