[arjab]

Hyundai recently invited all its dealers to Chennai for a first drive of the Eon.
My contact tells me that interior fit and finish is very good - went on to say its better than a certain budget entry level B segment hatch recently launched by a global OEM!
Engine pumps out 56bhp@ 5500, which if true, is pretty decent for a 800cc three pot.
Boot Space is apparently 215 litres.
There will be six variants.
The base version will not have either A/C or PS. The Base+ will have A/C only and no PS. The rest of the range will go on adding bells and whistles as it moves up the ladder.
Top variant will have driver's airbag only. Integrated Bluetooth is not being offered.
But all in all, a fantastic effort by HMIL in my opinion.

The launch is on 10th October 2011

[agbenny]

Is there any plan for redesigning Santro? Nothing happened after 2004/05's 'xing' upgrade.

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

Santro will be strictly used for taxi cabs. In the last few months most of the taxi cabs in Mumbai seem to be upgraded and more number of Santros/Estilos/WagonR/Eecos are being seen on the road

You can hardly see a Santro/WagaonR as a taxi in south.

[libranof1987]

Anyone heard this before?

Hyundai seems to have readied "Eon" for the Indian market. According to the report, the car is supposed to enter the market between Oct. 10 and 15.

The car is an entry-level small car which will offer direct competition to Alto.

Read on for more details :

Eon: Hyundai's small car to take on Maruti Alto at a starting price of Rs 2.50 lakh - The Economic Times

No thread on Eon on T-BHP. Given that the release date is just under a month, how come nothing has been heard about it?

Anyone with any news?

[karty_83]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Hyundai seems to have readied "Eon" for the Indian market.

The car is an entry-level small car which will offer direct competition to Alto.

If Eon is pitted against Alto, then what about Santro ?
Are they going to discontinue ?

[adg_andy]

Originally Posted by karty_83

If Eon is pitted against Alto, then what about Santro ?
Are they going to discontinue ?

No dude, the Santro is going to remain as of now. No one would kill a competent car that is also a cash cow . Eon will be positioned below santro. Peaceful co-existence!

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by karty_83

If Eon is pitted against Alto, then what about Santro ?
Are they going to discontinue ?

Originally Posted by adg_andy

No dude, the Santro is going to remain as of now. No one would kill a competent car that is also a cash cow . Eon will be positioned below santro. Peaceful co-existence!

If you read the report, it says Eon is positioned around 2.5 lakhs; Santro starts at 2.80 lakhs.

Now the report also says, the Eon is loaded with more features; I doubt the Santro has Airbags, 2-Tone Interiors etc.

I think eventually the Eon WILL eat into Santro. Maybe that's Hyundai's plan too; how long will they milk the cow anyway!

Didn't Alto mess with 800?!

[adg_andy]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Didn't Alto mess with 800?!

yes it did, but M800 was not feasible to be converted to BS4 and thats how it got killed. It was doing decent numbers then though

[misquitas]

The ET report had this to say:

Hyundai said Eon was conceived, designed and produced exclusively for the Indian market. The Eon project director YH Song said that the car, the smallest ever produced by the company, was in the making for the past four years. The sporty design and the functional interiors of the final product were the result of a series of interactions the company's global R&D officials have had with National Institute of Design, Indian auto journalists, renowned Indian auto designer Dilip Chhabria and a number of other designers. "The company's R&D centre at Hyderabad was totally involved with the project, especially in developing important components for the car," Saxena said.

Eon: Hyundai's small car to take on Maruti Alto at a starting price of Rs 2.50 lakh - The Economic Times

By the way, were any of our esteemed moderators on Team-bhp.com consulted on the Eon? If so, it would be interesting to know their comments on the vehicle.

The Eon sure promises a lot. If the Nano is already struggling to live up to its reputation, the Eon will surely mess up further Nano sales. I think the Eon is a perfect all round car for a start or as a second car for the family, as it has...

1. Decent engine specs
2. Decent cabin specs
3. Decent boot space
4. Decent safety specs
5. Decent frills/fitments
6. Decent FE figures (promised)

Like the I10, Hyundai seems to have continued its philosophy with the Eon -- Provide a little of everything so that while it may not excel in any one feature, it would still tick mark all the essential features.

[shuvadips]

I would expect the EON to eat away the market share from ALTO.
The Eon will be a petrol engine, powered by 814 cc, three-cylinder engine that will put out 55.23 bhp (56 PS) of power and 75 Nm of torque. This little engine will thus be more powerful than Eon’s target rival, the Alto which is powered by a 796 cc, three pot motor that makes 47 PS of power and 62 Nm of torque.
Eon is expected to be around 21 kmpl. For a petrol car, this compares with the Alto and other cars well.

Meanwhile the ALTO K10 will as usual compete with the Santro.

So I think both Santro and Eon will co-exist as Alto and Alto K10 is co-existing.

[swiftnfurious]

No wonder Hyundai is scoring high on sales numbers and over all global sale numbers ! These guys just do the right stuff & only the right stuff ! Hope this eats away a handsome pie from Alto & force Maruti to produce & sell something of that quality! Looking forward for the launch now.

[xingamazon]

One way that I can think Hyundai will differentiate between Santro and Eon is by introducing diesel mill in Santro. Thus making it the cheapest available Diesel in India.
Additionally, Eon will be one among cheapest petrol cars in the segment.

Thus they will have both cheapest petrol and Diesel cars, and both will be a superhit for sure and will not collide with each other.

[blackasta]

There is a 3 page report from Zigwheels available here:

New Hyundai EON : Exclusive Feature! Page - 1| Zigwheels.com

It is all praises - would have been better if the not-so-good things (if any) were also included.

[mathranik]

Rather than expanding the entry-level hatchback segment, I suppose it would definitely eat up into the sales of both the Alto and its own stable-mate, Santro. A lot of cross buying is ensured, since people going for economy and city-centric driving would trade Alto for Eon and people who want a slightly upmarket and contemporary looking hatch would trade Beat/Santro/Estilo for Eon.

All in all, a sure-shot recipe for success. Anything less than 15,000 units a month for Eon would reflect to be a failure, in many people's books.

[rock75]

Eon definitely looks a generation ahead of alto. With 56 bhp and 75 nm torque it is definitely ahead of alto F8 on engine specs too. The interior pic looked fab. I definitely expect it to race to 15000 sales number per month in short span if priced near about alto.However Maruti may decide to undercut price of alto to take the challenger head on.

On a side note, a maruti dealer's salesperson called in to enquire about my plans to buy a hatch. When I told him about 'Eon' he said out own Cervo was being launched around Diwali. However I could not find any such plans on internet so far.

[Skyline GT-R]

@Rock75

in India car sales guys believe in the motto "convince OR confuse"

You wait for Eon -> Eon launched -> You wait for Cervo -> Cervo launched after some weeks -> You buy Cervo because it is the "newer model" - irrespective of which car is better...you get the drift.