New Verna Will Be A Game Changer For Hyundai: MD YK Koo

India’s second largest carmaker Hyundai on Tuesday (August 22) launched the next generation Verna at an introductory price of Rs 7.99 Lakh for the petrol variant and Rs 8.19 lakh for the diesel variant. 

These prices are applicable only for the first 20,000 customers and post that mark, the company will increase the price of the car.

The new Verna which is based on Hyundai’s new K2 platform will be pitted against established players such as Maruti Suzuki’s Ciaz and Honda City. Hyundai is confident that the kind of aggregated features and futuristic design it is offering in the new Verna, the car will be a repeat of Creta’s and i20’s success.  

“Till date, we have received 45,000 enquiries for the car. We expect that the buying conversion rate will increase post the announcement of price and availability of the car in dealer showrooms,” YK Koo - MD and CEO of Hyundai India. 

Hyundai expects to sell 4000-5000 units of the new Verna per month, a number which it had achieved earlier between 2011-2013. Till date, Hyundai has sold 3.18 lakh units of Verna in the Indian market. 

Hyundai’s previous generation Verna sales declined at 700 units per month as the midsize sedan segment became very competitive. 

“When other OEMs entered and introduced new technology in the segment, we lost our product competitiveness,” said Koo, adding that the new Verna’s best in class performance and design will make it a bestseller.

Talking about new Verna, the car takes its design inspiration from its elder sibling, the Elantra. New design elements like cascading front grille, projector and cornering head lights, LED tail lamps on the outside and sharp curves give it the look of a coupe. 

Under the hood, the car will sport a 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engine. The 1.6-litre petrol engine makes 121 bhp and 151 Nm of peak torque while the diesel engine churns out 126 bhp and 260 Nm of peak torque. Both engines are offered with either a 6-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed automatic torque converter unit.

Volkswagen Vento and Skoda Rapid are the two other known players in the segment offering similar engine specs.