20110211

Hyundai 800cc Small Car (HA) spied testing in NH4

The Chennai-Bangalore highway (NH4) is turning out to be a hot spot of activity for automobile companies for testing their yet-to-be-launched models. Most recently, the highly publicized and much awaited 800cc car of Hyundai, being referred to as 'HA' was caught testing in the highway near the company's factory. When I spotted this camouflaged car, it was immediately apparent that it was a Hyundai, the 'headlights' making sure that I didn't mistake this for any other model.

At first sight, its clear that this new model will continue Hyundai's international styling trend that we all are now familiar with in the i10. The fluidic headlights with clear partition for indicators, the hexagonal grille (as outlined by the camouflage), the upward sloping rear windows and the tipped-forward aggressive stance - all are clearly visible. Overall, we can safely expect the car to bear a strong family resemblance to other Hyundai cars, especially the i10 and that's no bad thing at all.

The car also seem to be noticeably smaller than the other two tall boys from Hyundai - the Santro & i10. But, when its main competitor is going to be the Alto, it only makes sense for Hyundai to come out with a similar sized car. Its a known fact that Hyundai is developing a new 800cc 3-cylinder engine in the 'Epsilon' platform to power this car. The Epsilon engine, in its current 4-cylinder form, has been doing duty in the Santro since 1998 and more recently in the base versions of the i10 as well.

Though Hyundai is still tight lipped about the car's launch date, its being widely speculated that it will hit the roads in the third quarter of 2011. If priced competitively at around 2.5 to 3 Lacs, we can surely expect the car to take the fight to India's numero uno best-seller, the Alto, which has been enjoying a monopoly in that segment. Personally, I can't wait long to see this happen.

4 comments:

  1. The style looks so outstanding. Hyundai did a great model. A new approach in style of cars would be successful.

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  2. Spied while undergoing testing near Koyambedu, on the outskirts of Chennai, one of our regular readers Tarun Kumar Tripathy, might have caught what could be the Hyundai H800 small car.

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  3. @ Above - Would you mind sharing more details and snaps (if any) of the car that Tarun Kumar caught testing?

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