Apart from CBUs and perhaps CKDs, every car manufactured and sold in India differs from the ones sold in developed markets in one way or many ways.
It's a given that the feature list of Indian cars would be different from their counterparts sold in First World countries. Features that are of very little or no use in India (such as heated seats, heated steering wheel etc.) are deservedly given a miss, while those useful for Indian conditions (such as rear A/C vents, more powerful compressors etc.) are included in cars sold here.
Unfortunately, this feature deletion also extends to safety features. While almost every car sold in developed countries gets
side & curtain airbags and even
Electronic Stability Program as
standard, these are usually available only on the top-spec variants of mainstream cars in India,
if at all, as many manufacturers
don't even bother to provide these crucial active & passive safety features. What's more, while things like Autonomous Emergency Braking (including pedestrian & cyclist detection systems) have become commonplace in even economy cars in the First World, they remain restricted to premium & luxury cars in India (for now).
Then, we have unique conditions in India. The ground clearance of cars sold in India is usually a few centimetres more than the GC of their developed market counterparts. We also have the unique 4 metre limit for cars, to be eligible for a lower tax slab. This has resulted in quite a few cars having their bumpers and other parts reduced in length in order for the car to measure less than 4 metres.
Apart from all this, the quality of parts used for the Indian market may differ from those used for developed markets, even if those developed market cars are manufactured and exported from here. Also, one manufacturer in particular is notorious for its
extremely unhealthy obsession with lowering the weight of its cars sold in India by any means possible (in order to increase their fuel efficiency). This has resulted in some very unpleasant epithets being given to its light weight cars sold in India.
The quality of parts may also extend to the quality (and therefore, strength) of metal used for building the car,
both external sheet metal (which gives a feel of the build quality - "solid" or "tinny" or something inbetween) and the
metal used for structural members (which plays a role in torsional stiffness of the chassis as well as crash safety). The number and quality of welds may also vary.
It is quite difficult to find out if the characteristics mentioned in the previous paragraph vary between the cars sold in India and those sold in First World markets. Of course, it's relatively easy to find out if the sheet metal used on cars sold in India is of lower quality & thickness. But the other two, it's not easy at all!
In this thread, we shall deal with Hyundais sold in India and compare them with Hyundais sold in the developed First World markets. To be specific, I shall reveal the chassis diagrams that show the strength of steel used for chassis members, both of Indian Hyundais and the corresponding First World Hyundais, and compare them side by side.
From the least expensive Hyundai car currently sold in India to the most expensive one, and everything inbetween, we shall take a look at each one separately in a separate post.
All these diagrams are not mine.
Of course not! They are the official ones Hyundai uses in their online service manuals for independent garages worldwide.
Kudos to Hyundai for making such information available in the public domain!
Of course, public domain does
not necessarily mean open and free-of-cost.
The last time I posted such diagrams on this forum {
here (Understanding car platforms, starting with the Hyundai Venue)}, it was to
bust a pair of mighty myths created by shockingly clueless auto journalists and spread around by their equally clueless admirers about the platform the Hyundai Venue was built on. While it received mostly positive responses, a few were utterly shocked to see the mighty myths they so fervently believed in get smashed to smithereens. Sadly, they responded in a less-than-dignified manner (snide personal attacks, cheap comments and third rate trolling). My message to such folks is this. I
openly challenge any person on this forum or anywhere else to disprove anything that I have shown or shall show in the future with adequate technical evidence. If I'm wrong, then go ahead and prove me wrong with technical evidence, instead of behaving in an undignified manner that doesn't belong in this forum or any decent place, for that matter.
First up, we shall take a look at the most expensive Hyundai (by starting price) sold in India, the Kona EV.
Indian Kona EV (OSi) and First World Kona EV (OS) - how different are they?
I'll show you the monocoque of the two Konas from different angles. Observe carefully and see if there are any differences in the strength of metal used.
Bottom view Indian Kona EV (OSi): First World Kona EV (OS): Top view from the front Indian Kona EV (OSi): First World Kona EV (OS): Top view from the rear Indian Kona EV (OSi): First World Kona EV (OS): Monocoque with external sheet metal Indian Kona EV (OSi): First World Kona EV (OS): Floor section housing the battery Indian Kona EV (OSi): First World Kona EV (OS): Legend:
Grey denotes
mild steel Blue denotes
high strength steel Red denotes
ultra-high strength steel Yellow (or greenish yellow) denotes
aluminium alloy
Are there differences in the strength of steel used for different members between the Indian Kona (OSi) and First World Kona (OS)?
From the looks of it,
no. They look exactly similar. Which is to be expected, as the Indian Kona (OSi) is not manufactured here, but assembled from CKD kits. At least as far as the strength of steel used is concerned, the Indian Kona (OSi) is the same as the one sold in developed markets (OS).
Coming up in the next post: From the most expensive Hyundai currently sold in India to the least expensive one. We shall take a look at the Hyundai Santro.