People in Europe know it as “The Avante” and The Americans
know it by something they have given it themselves “North American car of 2012”
and we know it as Verna’s cousin – The Elantra.
It’s all set to embark its second innings in India keeping
in mind that first one was run out by miles, we expect the check list this time
to be a bit long. Will this be able to hit the sweet spot like Verna did? Well,
I am not sure…
Going by its fluidic sculpture it looks Hyundai’s very much
own kid. It has got everything in right proportions for a head turner. The sweeping
layered headlamp looks like those in the Verna and is very attractive. The
hexagonal front grill has now become the trademark of the fluidic design. On
the rear too; the story is pretty similar with high waist line with a hint of
curve down. The most peculiar thing about its looks is its tail lamp, sweeping
all through its side like a water fall in to a river. It has got the best tail
lamps in the segment category.
On the outside the inspiration from Verna and Sonata like design
has worked well but with the interiors it’s not the same story. It seems like their
inspiration was Eon. Quite simply it looks like it has got stretched interiors
from Eon. It’s catastrophic. Even the graphics on your instrument cluster are
not either modern or pleasant.
Just to make you feel special, India is the only country in
the world to have a diesel motor option. Probably because without diesel it
would have been like going to an Italian restaurant and asking for kebab.
Because if you do that, Sonata will be the answer!
Talking about what it gets underneath is the same motor from
Verna and specs are pretty similar too; 126 horses of power and 260 NM of
torque. The ride quality is really good, it nimble around like cheese. But it
lacks something, something that has to do with the feeling of joy, something
that you get while driving its competitors. Plus when you start cruising at
high speeds and the going gets either fast or twisty its back starts waggling.
And the good bit is that it comes loaded with features such as Automatic
climate control with individual climate settings, ventilated front seats, electrically
adjustable driver seat, cruise control, ESP and 6 air bags taking care about
your safety. Real ac vents and music control are nice touches.
The product is there with a combative price but surely we
need more of that as far as marketing and promotions are concerned to make it
the signature of success. The buzz is still not hitting the glass like it did
in case of 3 series. Hyundai has a lot more to face in terms of Brand homage
and fidelity of Toyota with the Altis and The canny speedster of the
diesel-rocket Cruze along the persistence of Jetta and Laura waiting to compete.
The segment has seen a slowdown in terms of numbers where the stalwarts such as
Altis/Cruze are doing below average numbers. Will the new Elantra resurrect the
fortunes of the segment and those of Hyundai? Only time will tell. There is so
much do, words are just not enough!
Image Source
(Author - Anshul Chawla - Is an automobile enthusiast who love and live cars! Can be ignited at anshul_chawla@live.com)
4 comments:
Well very written Anshul, congratulations on that !. Coming to the car the biggest problem I see is the Ride, its too soft and for a 2 million car its obvious that it would be chauffeur driven and it doesnt offer any high speed comfort and then is the design itself, manufacturers now are obsessed with following same design language for the entire product portfolio which makes cars look very alike, for an onlooker he cannot make out the difference between verna and elantra at first look and the price is almost double between them, so to whom is this vehicle target for?? Neither for chauffeur driven drives nor to win any radical design award. Management punditz your views on this please :)
This is really interesting…
keralaflowerplaza.com
Thanks Abhishek. We very well appreciate your views and also agree that the fluidic design gives Elantra a similar look to that of a Verna; but the case is similar when you compare BMW 3-series & 5-series as well - But that's the unique design philosophy an OEM propogates. And Elantra has its own set of distinction to differentiate from competition. The result seems quite positive in its second month with 608 units offtake. Hyundai has been successful with its fluidic Verna, lets see how the Neo-fludic Elantra fares in the coming months.
the car looks nice.........
thanks.
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