Hyundai Creta to launch on July 21, production starts on June 20 - Report

Launch advanced by 2 months to take advantage of festive season.

A report on the Economic Times states that the Hyundai Creta compact SUV will launch in the Indian market, subsequently having its world premiere, on July 21, 2015. Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has reportedly advanced the launch of the Creta to take full advantage of the festive season, which starts with the Onam festival in late-August.

The launch of the compact SUV has been advanced by 2 months, sources told the publication. HMIL has realigned its production with this regard, and the first units of the Creta will start rolling out from the Chennai plant from June 20, 2015.

Further, the publication reports that the Creta will be offered with petrol and diesel engines with manual and automatic transmissions. The engines are expected to be borrowed from the Verna, and include a 1.6-liter VTVT petrol, a 1.6-liter CRDi diesel and even a base 1.4-liter CRDi diesel engine.

Rakesh Srivastava, Sr. VP, sales and marketing for HMIL confirmed the change in strategy for the Creta. Mr. Srivastava said that the "move proved successful" with the Grand i10 (which was launched in India first, and then revealed in its European specification at the Frankfurt Motor Show of 2013), and that the company hopes similar success with the Creta.

Also read: 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe (facelift) launched in Korea

HMIL hopes to sell 4,000-5,000 units of the Creta in the domestic market each month, and acquire 10 percent market share in the UV segment.

Rivals: Maruti SX4 S-Cross, Mahindra Scorpio, Nissan Terrano, Renault Duster
Expected price: INR 8-10 lakhs, ex-showroom
Launch date: July 21 (reported)

[Source: EconomicTimes]