Hyundai had first offered the Elantra to the Indian buyers more than a decade ago. After a brief hiatus, Hyundai introduced the fluidic themed Elantra in 2012. It started slow but over the years, has been steadily selling an increasing number of cars crawling steadily towards the top of the D-segment sedans. Hyundai will get the new generation Elantra to India in August 2016 to augment its attempt to outdo the competition.
Built on a new and lighter platform, the new Elantra is longer and wider than the existing car. While the silhouette is almost the same, the lines are taut and not as evocative as the earlier Fluidic design. It gets the new hexagonal front grille as seen in the Hyundai Tucson with boomerang shaped mesh vents on the air dam housing the fog lamps. The headlamps get projector units and embedded LED DRLs. The coupe-ish roofline continues into the chiselled boot which now gets beautiful tail lamps inspired from the Elite i20.
Hyundai is known to load its cars with a feature list that stumps the competition and the new Elantra is expected to continue this good form. The top-spec car gets ventilated front seats – something that even some of the premium executive sedans miss out on. Push-button start, rain-sensing wipers, auto dimming internal mirrors and electrically foldable wing mirrors and more such gadgets will continue to be there. The cabin will be in beige and black hues unlike the black with silver accent interior of the global car.
Hyundai will continue to offer the Elantra with existing 1.6-litre diesel engine. The four cylinder turbocharged engine develops 126bhp of power and 260Nm of torque. The CRDi engine may be tuned for better power delivery and torque and will be offered with both the six-speed manual and the six-speed automatic gearbox options. Globally, the 1.8-litre petrol engine available in India doesn’t make it to the Elantra which keeps the options open for Hyundai to plonk in the new 130+ bhp 1.6-litre GDi engine.
The new Hyundai Elantra will continue to compete with the other D-segment sedans like Skoda Octavia, Chevrolet Cruze, Toyota Corolla Altis and the Volkswagen Jetta. As for the price, there will be a marginal increase on the tag and is expected to be around Rs 16 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
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