Hyundai Grand i10 launched...

MUMBAI: Hyundai Motor India, India's second largest car maker on Tuesday launched its new premium hatchback Grand i10 at an aggressive price of Rs 4.29 lakh to Rs 6.41 lakh ex-showroom New Delhi, a good Rs 20,000 to Rs 57,000 lower than its arch rival Maruti Suzuki's Swift.

When compared to its highest selling Swift VXi variant of Maruti, the comparable variant of Grand i10- the Magna petrol is priced Rs 50,000 lower and the Magna Diesel is priced Rs 57,000 lower than Swift's Vdi variant. 

B S Seo, MD & CEO said, "The Grand is a world class product developed for the Indian market. We expect Grand with its excellent value proposition and its unique features, will serve wide range of customers in India." 

he Grand is positioned between i10 and i20, and is targeted at the young professional aged between 25-35 years. 

The Grand i10 I positioned in 3.3 lakh units per annum entry premium hatchback space. In this space, cars like Maruti Suzukiv BSE -2.02 % Swift, Ford Figo, Toyota Liva and Nissan Micra are sold. 

The top end premium hatchback segment has cars like Hyundai i20, Volkswagen Polo and Fiat Punto. 

The company sells about 7,000 to 8,000 units of i10 compact car and about 5,000 to 6,000 units of i20 with the Grand, Hyundai is hoping to bring in an incremental sales of 6,000 units to 8,000 units led by diesel car. 

Developed at Hyundai's Namyang R&D centre in South Korea, the company claims that the car has been designed for the Indian market and taking feedback from thousands of prospective customers. In order to offer more space, the company has expanded the wheelbase by 100 mm over its European version. The rear AC vents, dual tone black and beige interiors, airy cabin at the rear. 
Grand is powered by 1.1 litre 2nd generation U2 diesel engine, which delivers the best in class fuel efficiency of 24 kilometers per litre (ARAI certified) and 1.2 litre petrol engine delivering a fuel efficiency of 18.9 kilometers per litre. 

Experts say Grand may chip away sales from both i10 and i20. 

"In this tough economic environment, the car buyers have a tendency to choose practical choices. So I feel some of the i20 customers may downgrade to the new Grand i10," said an auto analyst, requesting anonymity 

The company plans to produce and sell 6,50,000 cars, out of which 2,50,000 units will be exported. 

The compact small car segment constituted 52% of the overall passenger vehicle market in the country with sales of 1.41 million cars in FY13. Maruti Suzuki accounted for almost half of it with a market share of about 48%, while Hyundai was a distant runner up with 22% share. 

The Grand i10 offers host of advance and high-tech features like smart key with push button start and stop for key less entry and exit and ignition on\off, auto folding outside mirrors which automatically opens and folds when car is unlocked and locked.