[Aditya]

Hyundai & Kia are actually sister concerns (Hyundai helped Kia out of bankruptcy), but make no mistake, it is absolute WAR between their Indian subsidiaries. The Creta was pretty much the best-selling crossover in the 10 - 20 lakh segment, until the Kia Seltos walked in and literally dominated the market. No one - not even Kia - expected the astounding response that the Seltos received. Hyundai was obviously startled and from being in a leading position, the parent company went on the back foot.

Now, Hyundai has responded with the 2020 Creta. Will it outsell the Kia Seltos? Before we discuss the same, I wanted to add an important consideration = all said and done, sales from both cars benefit the same South-Korean group. We have never seen a situation in India where the same consortium controls a premium segment with such strength. The way things are looking, the Creta + Seltos might have 2/3rd to 3/4th market share of this category. Between the two of them, we fully expect 20,000 sales. That is a monthly gross of about Rs. 3,000 crores...or 36,000 crore rupees annually! Got your attention? Can you imagine Rs 36,000 crores from what is essentially the same car? Poor Maruti - which has no answer in this segment - is salivating at the thought.



Needless to say, the higher the segment, the greater the profit. For instance, if a company makes a profit of Rs. 25,000 on the sale of a hatchback, a C2-segment SUV can even fetch you 2 lakhs! Importantly, the C2 segment cars are within the reach of the middle-class, hence giving it fantastic volumes. Get your product right in this segment and you will have long innings.

Kia sure did its research before entering India. The company got everything spot on, including the product, price, variant spread & marketing. Since it went on sale in August 2019 till March 2020, Kia sold 81,984 units of the Seltos, even topping out @ 15,000 units in January 2020. Among the cars that suffered a drop in sales due to the Seltos’ success was the Creta – Hyundai managed to sell a less impressive 47,614 units of the car in the same period. From ~10,000 units a month, sales fell to ~6,000 units per month. There is no doubt that the Creta, though a competent product, was ageing and the Seltos with its aggressive looks, more modern interior and a new set of features had very little trouble in luring customers away.

Hyundai launched the 2nd-generation Creta, just before the Covid-19 lockdown (bad luck & bad timing). Mechanically, you could say that the two cars are almost identical, with the few differentiators being a bit of tuning + brand + dealer network + design + features. What do you think? Will the Creta outsell the Seltos? Believe me when I say this, Hyundai has put all of its ammunition in pushing the Creta now.



Team-BHP’s May 2020 sales report shows that the new Creta is ahead, but then, it’s not been a normal month at all. Therefore, let’s ignore those sales numbers. Instead, we should be looking at the sales figures over a longer period (say, 12 months).

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

Hyundai has the dealer network advantage, and there are many satisfied Hyundai customers who will only consider a “Hyundai”. Being a newer model, the Creta will enjoy an initial spurt in sales too. But over a period of 1 - 2 years, I will have to vote for NO. Reason = there is actually nothing to choose between them, other than the styling & small changes here and there. Now, when it comes to styling, you can say that the Seltos is neutral and will appeal to 9 out of 10 buyers. But the Creta is way too ugly! Hyundai's polarising design language might win over 50% of the market, but the other 50% will hate it. It's literally a love-it-or-hate-it design, which is never a good idea in the volume segments.

It is the Creta's weird styling that just gave the Seltos a major advantage.

[LordSharan]

Voted No.

Agree with GTO.

Only if Hyundai kept Creta's design normal and palatable for common folks, they would have easily outsold Seltos, just playing on their established brand, service and years of successful presence in India.

Feature wise Creta and Seltos are closely matched together. Seltos wins by having a cleaner and much better looking design.

I am still at Creta's design. Not sure if I'd be able to digest it even a year from now.

[akash_v12]

Voted Yes!

Here's why:-
1) Hyundai's strong dealership and service network
2) The Creta is an already established product, even after the Seltos was launched it kept on selling 5k+ units.
3) The addition of the new 1.4L Turbo motor and the 1.5 Petrol & Diesel from the Seltos will increase the customer bracket to an already appealing product.
4) Unique Styling - It feels Hyundai wanted to make the Creta look more futuristic than was needed. However, to my eyes and some others too, the design seems to have worked.

[ashis89]

Voted No!

It is an apples and oranges comparison and boils down to individual design preferences. To me, I simply can't digest that Creta design. I didn't like the bland layout of the AC controls, looks disproportionate in the lower variants with manual AC.

Six months ago, when I was confused between the old Creta and the new Seltos, there were suggestions to wait for the new Creta to be launched too. But I had seen the spy images and did not like what I saw. Today after its launch, I don't regret waiting for the
new one!

Thread:Old Creta vs. new Seltos (Kia Seltos 1.5D vs Hyundai Creta 1.4D vs something else?)

Even I had doubts regarding the service network of this new OEM in the market and the initial reports were not excellent. But after completing three services in three different service centres spread across two different cities and having taken the delivery at a fourth dealer, I can say that the experience so far has been very good.

Thread: KIA Service Experience (Kia Owners: How is the after-sales service experience from the dealer & company?)

[Sheel]

If anyone can give me Creta's interiors with Seltos's exteriors, I would vote for them.

I vote for Hyundai, just because its an older player and an established player which should give Hyundai an added advantage.

[Mik]

Voted Yes!

Apart from the aforementioned reasons given, I believe that conventional styling is not an express requirement for the average Indian car buyer. We have so many successes from Maruti and Hyundai which will never win any style awards (First Gen Dzire anyone!) but are established brands.
Trust and utility comes first and compared to the Kia, Hyundai has had a 20 year head-start. Not to mention the 'family car' underpinnings of the Creta with a more plush rear seat, softer suspension and the sun roof which screams luxury like nothing else!

The younger crowd might like the Seltos more because of its edgy styling so it might tip the Creta in some cities, but in the overall scheme of things - Creta will rock.

Personally, I wouldn't ever be found near this hideous Creta.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Voted YES

2 reasons. The much wider dealer network. And that panoramic sunroof. Of course, paddle shifters will also matter to us enthusiasts.

That huge sunroof is the single biggest deal maker of the Creta over the Seltos. When you are sitting inside and that sunroof opens, your wife and kids start grinning and the weird styling is instantly forgotten.

Most importantly, this panoramic sunroof has also killed the USP of the Hector. Many MG buyers will also prefer Hyundai.

[vipul_singh]

Voted 'Yes', but my real answer is 'it depends'. It depends on how soon (or whether) Kia launches a panoramic sunroof on the Seltos. Yes, I know I sound a bid jaded by basing an answer on just one feature, but that is how the market is, in my view.

[AYP]

Voted Yes!

Reasons for my vote-

1. Creta is a 'Hyundai' and many people in India have an affinity towards the brand Hyundai which is perhaps next only to Maruti.

2. Creta has become a brand in itself.

3. Hyundai far reaching A.S.S. network.

4. Panoramic Sunroof, perhaps the most important reason

[Nithesh_M]

If my tier II City is any indication then its a easy yes. Every 2nd car on the road was a Seltos. Now my local KIA dealer isnt selling in same numbers. 2 reasons for that. KIA has a waiting period of 2 to 3 months for all variants. Creta? Anywhere between 2 weeks to a month depending on variant. As a result my Hyundai dealer was very bullish about the sales prospects. If Kia does not sort its waiting periods then Hyundai who allegedly have manufactured Cretas in advance before launch will easily manage to outsell them.

So it is a big Yes. That panaromic sunroof is making most prospective S or EX budget owners change booking to SX. For under 17 lakh rupees the SX seems more VFM than HTX

[pgsagar]

Voted No. An emphatic no for me. No matter how hard I try, I can't just look past Creta's appearance. This car is like a child its mother only likes. Seltos is on a completely different plane. I think the only thing Creta got going for itself is that pano-roof. And, honestly speaking, Creta's interior look better than Seltos. I liked Creta's new digital instrument cluster. Seltos' dials look so boring, even the font style and size. The other problem with Seltos is sometimes I mistake it for an XUV300 and vice versa, from distance, both front and back. Especially white Seltos. But, still, it's Seltos for me. Like GTO said, after novelty wears off, people will flock back to Seltos.

[84.monsoon]

Votes Yes - The Creta's looks are polarizing and hard to digest right now, but on a few months, it will start to appeal since it is intrinsically a better geometrically simple and harmonious design than the Seltos. Also, Hyundai is, at least for now, giving the lower variants (E Diesel and EX Petrol) a price advantage by keeping them under the 10 lakh mark.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by GTO

Hyundai has the dealer network advantage, and there are many satisfied Hyundai customers who will only consider a “Hyundai”. Being a newer model, the Creta will enjoy an initial spurt in sales too. But over a period of 1 - 2 years, I will have to vote for NO. Reason = there is actually nothing to choose between them, other than the styling & small changes here and there. Now, when it comes to styling, you can say that the Seltos is neutral and will appeal to 9 out of 10 buyers. But the Creta is way too ugly! Hyundai's polarising design language might win over 50% of the market, but the other 50% will hate it. It's literally a love-it-or-hate-it design, which is never a good idea in the volume segments.

It is the Creta's weird styling that just gave the Seltos a major advantage.

This was my initial reaction too, when the new creta was launched, i absolutely hated the new design, but surprisingly it has grown on me. (I own the first gen and always thought it looks average)

I don't hate it nearly as much now, hell my analogy is when a product gets amazing initial success we see a lot of it on roads and people warm up to it very well eventually, case in point "Dzire", i never thought it will sell, it was a clear jugaad and no one would buy a hatchback with a boot pasted and consider it a sedan, many people thought the same too, yet surprisingly even some of those people went ahead and actually bought it in the future, along with half of India.

The general public also has the tendency to follow what other people buy, and this was one of the major reasons for the first generation's success, ideally they shouldn't have gotten away with overpricing the first Creta, Mahindra didn't with XUV 300, yet they did, doesn't make any sense but now they have made it into a brand, people also blindly trust Hyundai after Maruti, they potentially can hit it out of the park with this one too.

[2000rpm]

The only reason I would consider buying the Creta over the Kia will be the Panoramic sunroof.

I dont see any other reason for the same.

I have voted a NO.