Hyundai i20 Based Compact Sedan in the Making; Hit or Miss?
CarDekho predicted it months back that Hyundai is working on i20 based compact sedan to replace the Accent, which is comparatively doing lesser business for the company in India. The accent is now two generation old, and Hyundai is actually struggling in the C segment, where it only has the Accent that too in just petrol version, so the extended version of the i20 would be an ideal choice to do good in this segment as well.
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Extending a successful hatchback to a compact sedan is nothing new to the Indian market, we already have Swift-Swift Dzire, Etios-Etios Liva and soon there will be Honda Brio based sedan, the Amaze. And it doesn't take much of an effort to prepare a compact sedan of hatchback, as everything remains the same including the platform and cabin, a boot just needs to be added.
But it doesn't look easy for Hyundai to do it, as i20 is already one of the biggest hatches available in India, and if boot is added to the already big 3995mm length, it would become a bigger compact sedan. And if it happens, it will not only loose the excise duty benefit that competitors like Swift Dzire enjoys, it would cost so much higher than most cars of the segment as top of the line diesel variant already costs around Rs. 9 lakh on-road. So it would be better for the company to try make a sedan of an i10 not the i20, that makes more sense.
But if Hyundai guys get success in converting i20 into a sub-4 metre sedan, there is no doubt, it would heat up the competition and lure more buyers. On the other hand, the much awaited i10 diesel would come sooner than expected, as some of our close sources have confirmed that the company has preponed its plans of launching the i10 diesel. So we can now Hyundai i10 diesel to launch as early as the first quarter of 2013.
Read More on : Hyundai i20 detailed review
