[Ritkon]

Just came across this news.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...utm_content=23 .


Photograph from the Team-BHP review.


Another hatchback and this time the iconic Hyundai Santro has been discontinued in India.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by Ritkon

Another hatchback and this time the iconic Hyundai Santro has been discontinued in India.

The fate was decided when such an uninspiring design was launched. Santro was selling an average 2K units per month while the Maruti competitor Celerio is averaging 6K units.

It's the design that makes Hyundai fail recently, IMO. Eon, Santro, i20... all are victims of their design. Their latest designs are a strict no for me - whether it is Santro, i20, i10 rear, Xcent, Creta or Alcazar.

[achyutaghosh]

Terrible news as i found the Santro to be a very well rounded car in it's class- built quality, features, design, space- it had it all. We bought one for our inlaws last year as it suited their needs to a T.

Maybe a more powerful engine would have helped, along with a lower sticker price, but in all the comparisons we did last year, the Santro Sportz (factoring in ongoing discounts) was the cheapest AMT in its segment to offer- touchscreen with Android auto, rear view camera, steering mounted controls, electric mirrors - all must have for my inlaws.

Unfortunately, it's price put it in the WagonR's range and that had it beat in terms of space, practicality and Maruti peace of mind. Even Hyundai preferred spending their marketing dollars on the Nios, and it outsold the Santro 5:1 i guess. The writing was on the cards last year itself when they started discontinuing variants and colors.

We will keep our 2021 Santro for a really long time.

[dr.aviansh]

I guess subconsciously we had known that one day this would happen.

Reasons for the same :

1)Entry level A-Segment Cars are on a decline.
Like Swift, Baleno, Dzire outsell the Alto. Even that overpriced Creta does it sometimes.

2) Exact opposite of Santro Xing : Poor Drivability, Lacks the Robustness of Xing. It looks pretty MEH when compared to the evergreen looks of the Xing. That 1.1L Santro made it's max torque at 2500-3000 RPM! Trust me this perfect for city runs.

3) No affiliation with SRK : With SRK doing the Xcent sometime ago, then moving upto Creta and Alcazar, you wouldn't relate the Santro with SRK anymore.

4) Demand for 'SUVs' : Sheer laughable jacked up Hatchbacks like the S-Presso, Tata Punch, Suzuki Ignis etc, have given a huge dent on Hatchbacks.

5) Mumbai Cabbies apparently didn't like it! It never got as common on Mumbai roads as the tough old Xing did.

6) No brand USP : When the OG Santro was launched, it offered practicality over Zen. When Xing came in 2003, it had the wow factor added to it's predecessor's practicality. Something that the WagonR never previously got.

7) 2019 WagonR : The new WagonR is all what Santro was, but with two engine options to choose from, some great fuel economy, Maruti's low running costs and now with AMT. This car I believe was the Santro Killer!

[ObsessedByFIAT]

A few months back when I was in the market for a small automatic car, I found Hyundai dealership was not interested in providing a test drive or information about the Santro.
So much so that, I visited three different dealerships and the experience was the same.

The cheapest automatic at that time was the Maruti E-presso, followed by Renault Kwid, which was just 20k more than the Maruti.

The only plus side I saw in Santro was the four cylinder engine as compared to the three pots in the competition.

Hyundai could have surely done much better with the Santro - Which started their journey and a success story in India!

[Nithesh_M]

Can anyone confirm if this is true? Because another article recently only mentioned that the Magna and Asta AMT variants have been discontinued.

[theAutomaniac]

The Santro's death isn't surprising to me and I was honestly expecting this news ever since the car was launched in 2018!

For starters, the 3rd gen WagonR was a far better car with marginally better safety, much better practicality, more features in mid variants and had already grasped the market left unattended by Hyundai since a long time. In recent years, even the Tiago has been a popular car among customers owing to its high safety score and a great design.

These two cars, the Celerio and the fact that the current Santro was a hideous looking car with no USP of it's own had declared the Santro dead on arrival!

Ending this with a note to Hyundai-
Dear Hyundai, Santro is a brand that holds a special value among Indians and we will always remember it for that. That said, the current gen Santro was a disaster you guys made and if you just let this legendary brand name rest in peace and never mess it with it again, we assure you that we will forget if the disastrous 3rd gen Santro ever happened.
Thanks

[NiInJa]

The problem with Santro is that the i10 Nios is much better package for some more money. It is nothing in EMI terms. Also, when the car was launched, the Grand i10 was still selling well with end-of-life discounts.

Hyundai should have done something to the design of the car very early and made some feature adjustments to compete aggressively with the Wagon-R or even the Celerio. The car's interiors were much much better than Maruti's.

[Raghu M]

When my brother was buying his i20, Santro was being re-launched. I took a look and thought it looked ok. When I spoke to the showroom manager about the lack of visibility of the brand on social media, his answer was - sir, it's Santro, it will sell without any publicity. I think the exit will also not be a news on social media now.

[raksrules]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

The problem with Santro is that the i10 Nios is much better package for some more money. It is nothing in EMI terms. Also, when the car was launched, the Grand i10 was still selling well with end-of-life discounts.

I am one of those people who went to showroom to book Santro and then just "checked out" Nios. I own Grand i10 Nios now.

I mean Santro was not bad, it was good in terms of price and features. But Nios felt better value for the price.

[Hawk]

This does not come as a suprising news . The day it was launched , the looks of it single handedly sealed the fate for it combined with poor marketing ( did not see any advertisement for it on the television)

Someone who is going to get a Santro can extend their budget by a bit and get a Tata Tiago , MS Wagon R etc which make more sense than it .

Even now when we are looking for a beater car , the Santro was the first car to be rejected just because of it's design and cramped interiors.

[achyutaghosh]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Can anyone confirm if this is true? Because another article recently only mentioned that the Magna and Asta AMT variants have been discontinued.

Seems only the AMT versions have been discontinued. Hyundai India page lists out currently available variants.

https://www.hyundai.com/in/en/find-a...antro/features

Mods, do edit the thread title accordingly.
But i feel it is a start, and most likely all the variants will be discontinued.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

The fate was decided when such an uninspiring design was launched. Santro was selling an average 2K units per month while the Maruti competitor Celerio is averaging 6K units.

It's the design that makes Hyundai fail recently, IMO. Eon, Santro, i20... all are victims of their design. Their latest designs are a strict no for me - whether it is Santro, i20, i10 rear, Xcent, Creta or Alcazar.

+100. Hyundai's/Kia's design language in the recent years is so pathetic and uninspiring. The only reason I will not go with a Hyundai/Kia is its poor design and looks. Otherwise it's a brilliant package - value for money brand.

[GreasyCarb55]

Well then what next for Hyundai in this segment?

Maybe they bring in the Hyundai Casper? (based on the same Hyundai-Kia K1 platform as the Santro)

[AGupta]

I think the following factors affected the sale of Santro:
1. Hideous looking front
2. Power windows control on center console
3. Low pick up on initial gears
4. Wagon R with 1.2 K series engine
5. Grand i10/Nios on a touching distance of price band