The premium hatchback segment is set to see a major overhaul. First to arrive would be the Volkswagen Polo facelift followed by Swift facelift and the next-gen Hyundai i20. This new Hyundai i20 was spied recently, while being bench marked with the Swift and the Polo by a Team-BHP member Ajithaaa.
Benchmarking against a competition car is not a new phenomenon, there have been various incidents when two or more rival manufacturer cars have been snapped while testing each other’s strengths. It gives manufacturers an idea on what the rival manufacturer car is capable of and vis-a-vis that, how competent is their new offering.
Snapped at NICE road in Bangalore, the first three Swift, hidden i20 and Polo appear to be standing for a flag-off for a drag race 😛
There are two i20 test mules, possibly with different fuel options and both are running on steel wheels. The rear quarter panel has a whole new look which gives a hint of matured looks from the current sporty ones. The rear door also has a bulging point which gives a very European feel to the car.
The test mule seems to be larger than the Swift and the Polo, but rest assured it should be a sub 4m car to continue enjoying the excise duty cuts. The engine options are also expected to be the same albeit with a few tinkerings…
- The 1.2L Kappa (petrol) mated with a 5 speed manual transmission producing 84PS of power and 113.8Nm of torque.
- The 1.4L Gamma (petrol) mated with a 4 speed automatic transmission producing 100PS of power and 136.3Nm of torque.
- The 1.4L U2 CRDi (diesel) mated with a 6 speed manual transmission producing 90PS of power and 219.7Nm of torque.
On the contrary and in an interesting turn of events, Hyundai’s senior Vice President very recently was quoted as revealing that the company will launch a new premium hatchback within this year which will be placed over i20. There is a big possibility that this is the same hatch which he had talked about.
Hyundai may do a i10-Grand i10 to their i20 as well – reducing the current i20 and launching this next-gen international i20 as a more premium offering, not completely replacing the existing i20 and instead making them co-exist!
Its some real interesting story cooking up at Hyundai’s think tank and we are glued to every little development from their house.
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