It has been over a decade when Hyundai made its debut in
India with its tall boy smallie to start of the great first Indian auto rivalry
in the market against the likes of the Maruti Suzuki. Both the car makers were
relatively unknown in the Indian market but the smart Santro with some high
tech design model and technology quickly made a mark for its products and the
brand in the desi auto market. Coming to the present, the Hyundai today is a
giant and has a reputation of being the second most leading car maker in the
market.
The company also has increased its number of offerings with
Santro being the runaway hit till date. Santro for the last two to three years
however has been on a downswing and in spite of regular upgrades their car maker
could somehow not get the same share of the pie as compared to its arch rival,
the Suzuki Alto. Alto has been just running from strength to strength and is
known for its reliability, performance and clever pricing. The most interesting factor to be noted
however is the lethargic attitude of its rival competitors failing to realize
the success of the Alto and how late they were in launching a counter attack in
the form of other cars as a rival to the Alto. It almost takes about three
years for a car to see the light of the day from the design to the development
to the production. Hyundai must be given a mark of respect in this regard for
standing up and developing an all new Indian car targeting the entry level
segment.
The most talking point of the car has been the pricing point
and is expected to get even noisier as the car is expected to be a launched
with an ex-showroom price of 2.5 lakhs. Hyundai has also put in huge efforts
with respect to the brand, contemporary design and technology and not just
focus on the price. In fact they have gone a step ahead by addressing some
common problems faced by the Alto and the Hyundai Eon delivers on the promises
in terms of more style, boot space, on road performance and off course how can
we neglect the mileage. In fact the
car’s making process started with the codename HA and though the conception was
from Korea the company was leaving no stone unturned and even took strong
opinions from the Hyderabad R&D centre for the product and the final
outcome today looks neat and eye catchy and most of all seems like a completely
Indian small car.
The Hyundai Eon could very well have spelt the new trend for
the small cars in India. The car has massive boot area. The Tata Nano may also
fit the match but the Hyundai Eon is a car with better quality, performance and
style and comes as a huge relief for people who are not just looking for cheap
cars but something worth their money.
This Diwali it could very well be the blast of Hyundai Eon all the way.
