The new Hyundai Santro makes its debut and it is right for the money!

In many ways you can say that the launch of the all new Hyundai Santro is one of the biggest one’s we’ve witnessed this year. Not just from the sheer amount of PR and the launch event itself, but from a pure product standpoint too. After all, the new Santro does have a lot to live up to, for the original Santro did set the benchmark rather high in terms of what it achieved all those years ago and matching that is a tall order for anyone – even the ones that created the original tall boy!

In fact the original Santro can be credited as the car that ushered in a massive change for the small car market in India with its class leading features. Yes, it was a quirky little car that was going to go up against Maruti Suzuki’s finest and it managed to not only make a dent, but go on to become a legend in its own right. Shahrukh Khan was roped in from day one to help drive sales as the brand ambassador and he continues to do so even today. To put it simply, Hyundai stepped into a rather nascent market and managed to win big.

New Hyundai Santro 2018 — Hyundai is bringing back their A game!

With the new Santro, the company is looking at bringing back their A game. The new Santro has to take off from where the original left in 2014. There are new players in the market and there is that gap of four years that left the field wide open, but when a brand like the Santro returns, people stop and pay attention. Of course, the big question that everyone has is whether the new Santro lives up to the massive expectations of the market.

Jumping to a conclusion on that right now is a tough one and we will have to see how the Santro fares over the course of time, but the start of its journey has been nothing but spot on. Take for example the fact that it has garnered over 23,500 bookings before its official launch! That is testament to the craze for the car and how much brand value means to a customer. Moving forward, the Santro is expected to do big numbers on a month-to-month basis and Hyundai is geared up to cater to that demand as well.

As a product, the new Santro delivers by the truckload. It is well styled, looks fresh, extremely spacious and comes with a feature list that puts its immediate competitors to shame. Key features being the touchscreen audio video system, voice recognition, smartphone connectivity, rear parking camera and keyless entry. Add to that, you have a great engine under the hood in the form of the 4 cylinder 1.1 litre petrol engine that delivers 69 PS of power and to play their cards well, the Santro is available with both AMT and manual transmission options.

Safety has also been a prime area of focus for Hyundai and the Santro benefits from a strong body structure made up of 63 per cent of advance high strength steel +high strength steel. You also get a driver airbag, ABS and EBD as standard across all models, with the top model getting passenger airbags as well. It meets pedestrian safety norms and also gets impact sensing auto door unlock which is a segment first feature. Basically, the new Santro is being offered as a feature-rich hatchback that is fun to drive and a safe place to be as well.

Clearly, Hyundai has done the groundwork on ensuring that the new Santro leaves no stone unturned in terms of features and performance, thus catering or rather upping customer expectations in the segment. What is worth noting here is that while people have tried to find similarities between the original Santro and the new one visually, what they seem to be missing is that Hyundai hasn’t really set out to create the old Santro, but to deliver a car that has the same characteristics and ethos that the original delivered – an affordable car that is ideal for a family. Like the old Santro, the new one comes with class leading features and is expected to set the benchmark in its segment in terms of performance and comfort as well. It has been designed to be a game changer and my personal opinion on that front is that it will lead to the competition kitting their cars out better and ushering in more feature rich variants as well.

Is the new Santro cheap? The answer is no. If you thought you’d get it at the 1998 pricing, you were clearly harbouring the wrong idea! What you do get is a car that offers exceptional value for money, so don’t get carried away by just reading the price tag. Like the original Santro, the new Santro has also taken the road of delivering a more premium feel as compared to its direct competition. Like the original Santro, the new one has managed to do all this while keeping the price smack in the middle of that range and in some cases (variant for variant) it is even cheaper than the competition. My suggestion is to tally up all the features (versus the competition) and then make your own decision on whether the pricing is justified or not.