Opinion - Hyundai, Kia’s Mini SUV White Space Analysis | V3Cars

Also Read: Opinion - Is Hyundai Casper Coming To India Or Not?

In our 2021 opinion, we examined the Casper and saw room for a small SUV in Hyundai’s portfolio. Finally, we’re hearing rumours that Hyundai might fill that up in 2023, but with a brand new model and not with the Casper. Perhaps the Casper’s dimensions make it less suitable for the Indian audience.

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So, in this article, we’ll take a look at this white space and try to understand what the upcoming Hyundai-Kia mini SUV could offer to cash in on the SUV craze.

Let’s start with examining the white space with the following table:

As you can see, Renault, Maruti Suzuki and Tata have 3 SUVs/crossovers each. Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra and Toyota, each have 1 car to capture the SUV market share.

Mahindra have found success in the large —- and extremely profitable — SUV game while tasting failure with the small SUV space. Their efforts at popularising KUV100 were all in vain. Toyota are happy just borrowing Maruti cars and rebadging them. Until the Grand Vitara - Hyryder duo, all cars coming out of the joint venture were designed and engineered by Maruti Suzuki.

Renault have the Kwid in the micro SUV space, the Kiger normal petrol in the mini SUV price range and the Kiger turbo to challenge the premium SUVs. Nissan have the Magnite normal petrol and Magnite turbo petrol to rival the Punch and Nexon, respectively. This way, Renault and Nissan, both have managed to cover a wide price band with a single vehicle.

That leaves us with Hyundai and Kia. Both of these brands have big ambitions. Sharing R&D costs makes it possible for them to enter hot segments without spending huge sums of money.

In terms of pricing, the mini SUV space starts out with the Ignis at Rs. 5.35 lakh and tops out at almost Rs. 9.0 lakh with the Kiger and Tata Punch automatic. Given Hyundai’s history of positioning their product as a premium alternative, we can expect them to counter the Punch and start in the Rs. 6.0 - 6.5 lakh price band.

This approach will make them good money as they’re likely to use the Nios/Aura platform. This is a more affordable option as the B1-segment hatchback’s platform is cheaper than that of a B2-segment hatchback. For example, the Tata Punch shares its platform with the Altroz, which is a B2-segment hatchback. So, there’s added expense there in making the Punch. If they used the Tiago’s platform, it’d have naturally had a smaller price tag. But, it’d also create an overlapping product as they already have the NRG to capture that sub-segment.

In terms of dimensions, we can expect the upcoming Hyundai mini SUV to have a length similar to that of the Punch. The C3, Magnite and Kiger will continue to offer a bigger SUV for the price but with a smaller engine.

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Speaking of engines, we’re pretty sure that Hyundai's mini SUV will retain the 1.2L normal petrol engine. It’s also natural for us to expect an AMT-type automatic transmission, which is also available with the Nios.

The trump card in Hyundai’s favour could be the option of a diesel engine. No other carmaker in this segment has a diesel engine option. Hyundai have a small 1.2L turbo diesel engine in their portfolio with a manual as well as an AMT automatic transmission. They offer this with the Nios and Aura. Adding one more car to the list could make the engine viable for the long-term.

The sedan and hatchback buyers usually prefer petrol engines, SUV buyers are more open to considering a diesel engine. So far, there aren’t any diesel options in this body-style and price range. In fact, there are barely any diesel SUVs in the sub-Rs. 10.0 lakh price band. Just a year or two ago, we had multiple options including the Venue and Sonet.

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According to recent reports, Hyundai plan to bring this new SUV in 2023. Since Hyundai and Kia share platforms and powertrains, we can expect a similar vehicle from Kia in 2024.

Based on this analysis, we can conclude that Hyundai and Kia are keen to fill their mini SUV white space. The success of the Punch gives them even more incentive to walk this path. We expect it to be about as big as the Punch and about as powerful too. In terms of pricing, we expect it to cost between Rs. 6.0 lakh and Rs. 9.0 lakh. If they add the diesel engine option too, then the top-spec variant with the diesel engine could very well carry a price tag of under Rs. 10.0 lakh (ex-showroom).

Also Read: Punch Becomes A Consistent Performer For Tata Motors