New Hyundai i10 wth Kappa Engine

Hyundai has launched the hot selling i10 hatchback with a new 1.2 litre 'Kappa' engine. The new engine is an all aluminium unit with DOHC and four valves per cylinder, producing 80PS and making the i10 a really fun and peppy hatchback to drive. The new engine would be offered along with the existing 1.1 litre engine, which is the same as the Santro. The base D-lite and Era models would be sold with the existing 1.1 litre engine while the Magma variant plus two new variants; Sportz and Asta, would be sold with the 1.2 litre, Kappa engine. The 1.2 litre Kappa engined variants would also be offered with the choice of a 4-speed automatic transmission. Fully loaded variants would come with goodies like a sunroof, 2-Din sound system, a red pack Sportz interior and class leading safety features like ABS and dual airbags.

Hyundai is likely to price the 1.2 litre Kappa engine variants aggressively at only about Rs. 10,000 more than the 1.1 litre versions. This would make the i10 a performance hatch with great value and a great city hatch.

Hyundai i10

Hyundai looks set to be latest challenger in the ultra low cost car ranks in India with their announcement of a new model targeted for that market. Tata Motors kicked things off with the introduction of the Nano earlier this year with its starting base price of only $2,500 U.S. It doesn't look like Hyundai plans to go quite that low, instead coming in a little higher at $3,500. Development of the new model is only now beginning with a target launch date of 2012. According to Hyundai's Indian boss H.S. Lim, the new car is not meant to be a direct competitor to the Nano (a thousand dollars might not be a big deal on a $50,000 SUV, but since that amount is almost half the cost of the Nano, people will notice), even though better-equipped versions of the Nano can exceed the Hyundai's price point. In the meantime, Hyundai is launching natural gas and propane versions of several models, including the Accent and Santro this year.