Report - Hyundai i20 platform for bigger, cheaper hatchback

The Indian car market doesn't really like the idea of a premium sophisticated hatchback. Example being the Honda Jazz, There were little faults with the car, but the price was too high for the Indian consumer to digest. Proof that even a good car can fail if not priced well.

The Hyundai i20 is another very capable car and hasn't been doing well because of its high price tag. Though Hyundai has really raised the bar with this car in terms of equipment and safety, the typical Indian consumer simply won't fall for that.

It has been reported that Hyundai is re-working on the Hyundai i20 platform to develop a car for the Brazilian market, that is relatively more cost-effective than an i20. Hyundai's Brazilian arm is developing this car to mainly to beat Ford to become the country's fourth largest car-maker by 2011, represented in the images above.

Oles Roman Gadacz, Director (Global Public Relations), Hyundai-

We are building a new plant in Sao Paulo which would roll out the new compact car. We will make a car exclusively for Brazil, which will use the platform of the i20, with necessary modifications to suit the needs and desires of Brazilian consumers.

The new car wouldn't have the strong crease lines on the side of the i20's body and would do away with expensive equipment and just come with 2 airbags and ABS as standard (the current i20 has more than 5). The new car's size would be between the i20 and Hyundai i30.

The new car would also be wider and bigger than the i20 competing against the VW Fox, Chevrolet Agile and the Renault Sandero internationally.

Likewise, for the Indian market also, Hyundai can consider bringing in the cost-down i20 that can pose serious threats to the Swift and the Figo. We doubt if this will happen, but with the bulk of the i20 production moving to Turkey, there is space in the Hyundai plant for an extra mass-market model.

Hyundai is using same i20 platform to develop a MPV version of the i20 on lines of the speculated Ford B-Max (Fusion replacement). There are so many lucrative options for the i20 platform which Hyundai can cash in on.

Source: Carro Online