We had seen it coming!! Frankly, the writing was on the wall and the inevitable has happened. Hyundai has stopped offering the 1.2 Litre Kappa2 engines on its hatchback i10.
Along with the 1.2 Litre motor, Hyundai has also shed the two top-level trims of the i10 – Sportz and Asta – which were powered by the same powerplant. Well before the launch of Grand i10, we had speculated such a move to be in the offing.
The reasons were many :
- The Grand i10 was essentially the Next-Gen i10. However, Hyundai decided not to shelve the i10. Hence, some amount of differentiation was necessary.
- The Grand i10 perches itself in between the i10 and i20. To ensure it some breathing space, the number of offerings of the i10 always had a chance of being reduced.
- There was also the risk of cannibalization as the pricing of the i10 variants were getting too close to that of the Grand i10 lineup.
- The Grand i10 sported the 1.2 Litre Kappa2 engine in a similar tune; hence there was the risk of confusion.
The i10 is now available in three trims :
- D-Lite
- Era
- Magna
All these variants will be powered by the 1.1-litre iRDE engine. The reduction of offerings now pushes it down the ecosystem in the value chain. Its competitors now include the WagonR. The Grand i10, on the other hand, will slog it out against the Maruti-Suzuki Ritz, Figo and others.
