[Zombie69]

Well Hyundai and Kia Motors are sister companies and their new cars have the same interior design. I like the way their center console is designed, it's driver oriented. Here's a picture of my fully loaded 2012 Kia Optima EX.

[mints21]

IAB has posted the latest picture rendering the rear of the new i20.





Source: IAB

[swiftdiesel]

Spotted the camouflaged i20 today in Chennai.

[CARDEEP]

motorbash have anaged more spy pics if the cr being tested in Chennai roads, where the tail-lamp culster is partially visible. Here is link to their report:

http://motorbash.com/next-gen-hyunda...-lamp-cluster/

[samabhi]

Spotted this car near Porur, Chennai. There were two actually. Followed one for a long time, but managed to click only very few pictures. I am guessing this is the new i20.

[_raVan_]

The 2015 i20 has been speculated to be launched around September.

Industry sources have told Indian Autos Blog to expect the launch of the hatchback to take place by September this year. India will be one of the first markets for the new generation i20, which is reported to have a European debut at the Paris Motor Show (which takes place in the first week of October).

Source: IAB

I suppose they will be targeting the festive season Hope that Honda also launches their Jazz at the same time

[CARDEEP]

Motorbeam have caught the car being tested in Chennai. Please peruse their report for the pics of the cars:

http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/hyunda...-october-2014/

[Vik0728]

Just bumped into an article on Motorbeam that I was pleasantly surprise about.

http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/hyunda...odel-in-india/

Basically, speculations are that the I-gen I20 facelift might co-exist with the current model.

Does the Indian market, if not Hyundai, have any segment or space for such a thing ? If yes, would this be priced more than Xcent, which for a common man is bigger car since it has a boot ?

- Fiat has been killing me with the wait for the Punto F/l. I just hope it does not happen at a time when the new I20 is here, which might just be too good for Fiat to overshadow.

Note from Mod : For benefit of all members, its best to avoid Unintelligible acronyms like (F/l) etc. Please type in full instead of acronyms. Thanks

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Does the Indian market, if not Hyundai, have any segment or space for such a thing ? If yes, would this be priced more than Xcent, which for a common man is bigger car since it has a boot ?

Hyundai is envisaging a 'Premium Hatchback segment' a sub 10 lakh car and this would be above the Xcent.
How successful will this be only time will tell, if the Indian customers have matured in this way of thinking!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Basically, speculations are that the I-gen I20 F/l might co-exist with the current model.

Interesting speculation by Motorbeam, although I wonder which source tipped them on this strategy. With the Xcent and current i20 covering the 7-8L base there is very little room for the new i20's entry level model to play with on the pricing. There is only one way I see this happening and that is if the 2015 i20 breaches the 4m length mark. Speculation in Europe was that the new i20 is longer based on photos, if so perhaps they do not want to edit the length for India to fit certain tax break criterion. India being a size conscious country would not just pay 2L more for softer plastics and features if the length is same. With the wheelbase increase confirmed, a small change in length is very probable (50-100mm) and thus they want to position it as a made for India i30? If diff gen models co-exist with same lengths and one costs 15% more guess which sells better?

[swiftnfurious]

So what's that?! A grand i20?! Will have to see whether it co-exists with the current one and if it happens, how will it fare.

[AJITHAAA]

The New i20 spotted on NICE road Bangalore last Saturday. The test cars are accompanied by Maruti Swifts and VW polos which are part of the test team.

[Vid6639]

Good pictures Ajithaa. These are some of the clearest yet.

Size comparison with the Swift and Polo seems to indicate that the new i20 is actually bigger than both of them. It looks taller and larger.

Also, standing next to the Polo you can see it has some european design flare. More angular than fluidic. Looks sharp.

This and the Jazz will really shake up the B segment hatch back space.

[DDIS]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

The full model change for the i20 is expected to come in 2014, with test mules of the car already spotted in South Korea. From the looks of it, the next generation 2014 Hyundai i20 seems to be larger than the current version of the car.

I think the one in this link is an i30...the way it is shaped, particularly the back. Here is the pic of an i30:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...C3%BCnster.jpg

[RSR]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Basically, speculations are that the I-gen I20 F/l might co-exist with the current model.

Does the Indian market, if not Hyundai, have any segment or space for such a thing? If yes, would this be priced more than Xcent, which for a common man is bigger car since it has a boot?

I believe Motorbeam's speculation may not be completely off the mark. However, I do not mean to say the next-gen i20 won't replace the current car, either.

My rather confusing theory can be easily understood by looking at what Hyundai did with the i10 and its replacement in India, the Grand i10. The i10 & Grand i10 do co-exist at present, but the Grand i10 has also taken up the space in which the i10 was positioned. To put it simply, the old i10 was positioned slightly lower with only the smaller engine option, and the Grand i10 was slotted into the position of the old i10 1.2 Kappa, as well as slightly above (with the 1.1 CRDi).

Hyundai could follow a similar strategy with the next-gen i20 and it would make sense. The current i20 could be positioned slightly lower, featuring only the 1.2 petrol engine & 5-speed gearbox in lower variants - Era, Magna & maybe Sportz.

The 1.4 CRDi 6-speed & 1.4 Gamma 4-speed automatic variants could be replaced entirely by the next-gen i20. The 1.4 CRDi 6-speed would find its way for sure into the hood of the future car. A 1.4 litre petrol automatic option is also likely.

Depending on whether the new car measures less than 4m or not (the current car is already almost 4m in length, or 3995mm to be precise), the petrol engine could either be the 1.2 Kappa dual VTVT tweaked to churn out a few more horses and Nm, or a 1.4 litre petrol engine. Hyundai have two choices for a 1.4 litre petrol engine - the 1396cc Gamma currently doing duty in the i20 Auto & lower variants of the Verna, and a new 1368cc Kappa which is not found on any car in India at the moment (but powers the Verna a.k.a. Accent in some overseas markets).

The Xcent may be perceived as a bigger car by the ordinary public due to its separate boot, but the next-gen i20 is sure to get a bigger engine (at least in diesel guise) and Hyundai are likely to load it up with more features as well (like 6-airbags, adjustable front headrests, LED DRLs, possibly a sunroof etc.), so they should have no problems if the next-gen i20 overlaps with the Xcent and even costs a bit more for some variants. The upcoming Jazz may also be positioned similarly by Honda, with respect to the Amaze.

The current European i30 may not find its way into India at all. Not only does the Verna exist in that space, but the upcoming ix25 compact SUV (Duster & Terrano rival) is also going to be slotted in there, or thereabouts. Hyundai's Ertiga & Mobilio rival (based on the Hexaspace concept) would also somehow have to be positioned in a similar bracket, and it could get too crowded to have the i30 also in there.

Having said that, I do think the market has matured enough - a large, very premium hatchback loaded with all kinds of features should find enough takers.