Hyundai Santa Fe unveiled in India with a price of Rs 20.95 lakh

Korean auto maker Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) launched its popular luxury sport utility vehicle ( SUV) Santa Fe in India, its third offering in the category after Hyundai Terracan and Hyundai Tuscan for the Indian consumers. The SUV is available in two options — two- wheel and four- wheel drive – and are priced at Rs 20.95 lakh and Rs 22.95 lakh (ex- showroom Delhi), respectively.

Santa Fe comes with a compact 2.2- litre common rail diesel unit with 194 bhp@ 4,000 rpm and 44.9 kg of torque between 1,800 and 2,500 rpm. According to the company, this diesel vehicle has mileage of 14.66 km per litre. The company claims a 0- 100 kph time of less than 10 seconds.

The car boasts of features like a dual- zone climate control system, an audio system with auxin and USB ports, cruise control and stereo controls on the steering and six airbags.

Santa Fe was first introduced globally in 2001 as Hyundai’s maiden SUV. “ This is really very exciting time for the Indian auto sector and the market is just apt to launch a luxury SUV. Just look at the number of SUVs that have been announced this year.

We have already learnt from our earlier two SUVs and both price and performance- wise it is ready to take on competition,” Arvind Saxena, director ( marketing and sales), HMIL, said . “ After many successful launches this year, we will be focussing on building our portfolio and the company is looking at offering products under all possible categories. We will have a couple of launches starting from the beginning of next year,” Saxena said.

Saxena added that it will not compete with the existing SUVs and the company is also planning to revamp the Tuscan. The company said it will start bookings for the car from October 18.

The company aims to sell 600 to 800 units a year. Hyundai Motor said it will import completely built units of the SUV to India from South Korea. It has no plans to manufacture the vehicle locally now, it added.

“ Globally, Santa Fe has already sold over 20 lakh units since its launch in June, 2000.

We are confident that in India Santa Fe will give us a competitive edge in the SUV segment,” H. W. Park, chief executive officer ( CEO) and managing director ( MD), HMIL, said.

The luxury SUV segment is catching up in India as companies ranging from Tata Motors to Volvo are trying to get a pie of the expanding SUV market.

Santa Fe will compete against Mitsubishi Motors Corp’s Pajero, Ford Motor Co’s Endeavour and Toyota Motor Corp’s Fortuner. Hyundai currently sells six passenger car models in India including the hatchbacks Santro, i10, i20 and sedans Accent, Verna and Sonata.