[anjan_c2007]

The Hyundai Santro was launched in late 1998 and was available in the market since early 1999. With its ‘Tall Boy” design and with Shahrukh Khan as brand ambassador, the car that was perceived as ugly looking, with its almost unacceptable tall stance, soon became acceptable in our market to become a darling for hatch buyers, rattling the B-1 segment with its zooming sales.

The Santro’s first generation (1998-2003) was replaced by the refreshed second generation (2003-2014) . Apart from the private car market, the Santro soon also became a darling for the Mumbai taxi trade, almost replacing the mighty Fiat 1100/ D/ Premier President/ Padmini/ 137 D's rule of nearly five decades. Coincidentally, the Padmini/ 137 D’s production also stopped since 1998 and for those who believe in rebirth, this is a fit case study.







Earlier Santro sighted as taxi in Mumbai (above)

An informative thread on Hyundai India (HMIL) citing the Santro by GTO:-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...company-4.html (BVR Subbu's new book! Santro: The car that built a company)

post# 1 by GTO quoting from Mr B.V.R. Subbu’s book “Santro: The Car That build a Company”

‘There’s no business like the car business!’

Within months of its launch in late 1998, with every well-known global automobile brand jockeying for a foothold in a small-car market almost monopolized by Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motor India’s debut production, the Santro, emerged as a force to reckon with.

The first car to be conceptualized and designed for – and then developed and manufactured in – India, the ‘Sunshine Car’ outshone its competition in every sphere, winning awards and setting standards in technology, quality and trust that are yet to be achieved by any other small car in the Indian market. Over a period of sixteen years, it set the record for the quickest small car brand to go from zero to a million units sold, achieved profitability for Hyundai at unprecedented speed and made an impressive global impact as a ‘made in India’ automobile in markets as diverse as Algeria and Zimbabwe, Western Europe and North America.

In Santro: The Car that Built a Company, B.V.R. Subbu, who spearheaded much of this success, reveals the hitherto untold story of how this small car made such a big impact and firmly established a relatively unknown Korean car manufacturer as a market leader in the Indian automobile industry. Vivid anecdotes detail the thrills and challenges of introducing a new product in a new market; the canny business decisions that overthrew the competition; the unforgettable marketing campaign with Shah Rukh Khan that made the car the household name it became; and the high-stakes power battles and everyday drama that characterize corporate India.

A story about a car-like-no-other, B.V.R. Subbu’s narrative is by turns revelatory, insightful and thoroughly entertaining. If there’s one business book you read this year – let it be this one.

Going strong, Hyundai Motors introduced the i10 in 2009 with two petrol engine options viz. 1.0 and soon after the launch, the 1.2 Kappa. A diesel option was spoken of during its first launch and was reported by a few automobile magazines but that was never to be. The i10 caught the fancy of hatch buyers and again very soon became a best seller for Hyundai. As the i10 was no “Tall Boy”, Santro sales too continued alongside.

The i10 Grand came along in September 2013 with two engine options, this time with its 1.2 L Kappa Dual VTVT (petrol) and the U 2 1.2 L CRDi diesel option. It offered a contemporary alternative for i10 buyers. The Bajaj showrooms too offered the Cub, Super and Chetak to choose for, by buyers alongside, in showrooms since the late 1980’s and lately the Santro, i10 and i10 Grand siblings re-enacted this scenario starting 2013. But the old Santro was soon discontinued by 2014 due to the sagging sales, in view of the other better offerings in its class by Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL).

And four years after the good old Santro was gone into wilderness, HMIL woke up and suddenly realised that the Santro’s brand equity gained from 1998-2014 should not disappear from public memory, to enable commercial gains for the car maker. They re-launched the Santro in 2018, with their 1.1 L petrol Epsilon MPI petrol and the 1.1 L petrol Epsilon MPI petrol with a CNG option. Again now, Shahrukh Khan, the fifty plus star (he was 34 years old in 1999, when the old Santro was launched) was roped in as the brand ambassador.

But despite being an old household model name (Santro) and with King Khan in tow as the brand ambassador, the new Santro never sold well and its sales just hover around 25,000 units a year. It has never been seen in the monthly Top 20 list of best selling cars.



Hence, a pertinent question arises, ”Are the i10 (2009) followed by the i10 Grand (2013) the real successors of the good old Santro, or is the new Santro of 2018 a worthy successor ?”

Would welcome discussions!

[porsche_guy]

Voted undecided.

I am not quite sure if we will ever see a true replacement of the Gen 1 Santro. Sad considering how a cute little car it was. I still feel it remains one of the best cars to drive in dense city confines. Also what is often looked over is that the Xing also got an AT model which is very rare but just makes the package that much more convenient.

As for the Grand i10, when it launched in 2013, it blew away the competition. It was quite the complete car and tapped into a huge market with the Petrol, Diesel and AT powertrains. This, I feel was the positioned above the i10 which makes sense given that it was significantly more powerful, spacious, feature loaded and modern.

However, now that the Grand i10 Nios was to be launched, it moved further upmarket to the point that it moved up a segment easily. This left a gap lower down in Hyundai's portfolio after the failure of the Eon. This I think is what prompted Hyundai to revive the Santro plate in 2018. So the new 2018 Santro IMHO is more of a replacement for the i10 rather than the Santro.


I'd still put the onus of its failure on the optimistic pricing of it (probably since they were drunk on the success of other models in their range) and largely the fact that Hyundai hasn't paid enough attention to it. I still feel it makes for a really good city car and with its smooth engine, feature packed interiors and acceptable build quality for its segment, it's a shame it hasn't seen the success it deserved

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The i10 Grand came along in September 2013 with two engine options, this time with its 1.2 L Kappa Dual VTVT (petrol) and the U 2 1.2 L CRDi diesel option

It wasn't a 1.2 CRDI but a 1.1 CRDi. The same engine was modified a bit later for the NIOS which today comes with the 1.2 Diesel that's also mated to an AMT

[RavSam]

Neither the New Santro nor the Grand i10 feel like the OG/Xing Santro replacement

No matter how hard I try but I just cannot take a liking to that oversized black grill surround cladding.

The OG Santro (not the Xing) was ok but the grille made it look hideous. The Xing looks good even today. Simple and clean lines make it timeless.

The Grand i10 and its facelift was good. Instead of using the old i10's curvy body, they should have used the one from Grand i10 and made a clean and sober looking Santro.

The new santro's interior are good but do not look spacious. The interior parts quality as per reviews are good.

The tail-lamp of the Santro is also sad. Nothing special about it. The Tail lamp of the Santro Xing looked so beautiful back when it was launched. The current Grand i10 Nios looks good but not as remarkable. The interiors of Nios are AWESOME though.

In short, the head-lamp, tail-lamp and the grille cladding just makes it not as much likeable as the Grand i10 or the Xing was.

OG Santro: Meh
Xing: Wow!
New Santro: Meh

OG i10: Meh
i10 facelift: Ok!
Grand i10: Wow!
Grand i10 facelift: Superb!
Grand i10 Nios: Alright (but sexy interiors!)

I have high hopes from the radical AX1. Looks like Baymax. Mee Likey!

P.S. Hyundai, please stop with long names. You are selling cars and not Korean Mobile phones. Don't want "Elite i-gen Grand i10 Neo Nios Prime Pro"

[TrackDay]

Image source: google images

Never felt that the Santro Xing got any worthy successors. The i10 was a distinct model with it's own identity which was followed by the grand i10. Going by market response the new Santro doesn't seem to have the acceptance of the older one. Also the core audience of Santro have upgraded over time into bigger and larger vehicles. The ones shopping in that segment are likely to go with a Wagon R, S-Presso or Tiago etc.

[sagarpadaki]

n my opinion the new Santro did not set the sales charts on fire because unlike early 2000's , the customer had a lot of other options in the market to shop around when the new Santro was launched. There was no USP( Maybe the Electronic actuated AMT is) in the new Santro for people to sit up and take notice. This was not the case in the 2000's when the only considerable option apart from Santro was Maruti Zen in that segment. Indica was considered a segment higher price and perception wise.

A correction- The grand i10 initially came with a 1.1 litre CRDi. Only a couple of years ago it got a 1.2 litre CRDi