[JayPrashanth]

Link to News Section

Hyundai India has hit bull's eye with the Grand i10, an all-new car that is based on an extended wheelbase platform of the 2014 Euro-spec i10 hatchback. The Grand i10, which sits between the i10 and i20 hatchbacks in terms of price and positioning, has managed to breach the 10,000 units/month sales figure in just the second month of the car going on sale in India. The stiff demand has meant that some variants of the Grand i10 command a 2 month waiting period while other variants are available with a 1 month waiting period.



Although the Grand i10's wait times aren't as high as the 8-12 month waiting periods that the Ford EcoSport variants are saddled with, Hyundai wants to make the Grand i10 available off-the-shelf. For this the car maker plans to bump up its current annual output of 6.3 lakh cars at the Sriperumbudur factory, to 6.8 lakh cars/annum. This production increase will be achieved by re-engineering the factory, that will liberate an additional capacity of 50,000 cars/annum. A time frame hasn't been announced for the proposed capacity expansion.

Hyundai India, which is a major exporter of cars from India, is currently utilizing 99 % of the 6.3 lakh cars/year capacity of its Sriperumbudur factory. Therefore, the additional 50,000 units/year capacity addition will greatly serve to reduce waiting periods of the high-demand Grand i10. Given the fact that automatic variants of the Grand i10 are in the pipeline in the coming months, demand for this B+ segment hatchback may grow further.

Breaking convention, Hyundai is rumoured to have plans of launching a automatic gearbox equipped, diesel engined Grand i10. For a country that puts fuel efficiency at the forefront, a diesel engined automatic hatchback could find eager takers as such a car will combine the twin virtues of convenience and fuel efficiency. The Grand i10 Automatic will also be available with a petrol engine option. Both the petrol and diesel automatic variants of the Grand i10 could feature a 4 speed automatic gearbox, which does duty on the likes of the i10 and i20 automatics.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by Burn_out

As I was turning to fetch the keys for the gentleman, he proposed to demonstrate the keyless entry & go feature of the car. The distance between the car and the keys were not more than 10 feet, which was still inside my house. The gentleman from the Hyundai walked up to the car, pressed the tiny black button and viola! the car was open. Bear in mind, that I am certain I had locked the car post our TD. I soon realized that this might be an issue on the road when we step out of the car and go to get something from the roadside shops. When I raised my concern with the salesman, he said that the feature would only work to open the car doors as the range is somewhat around 3-4 meters. However, he also assured that the car wont start as the range for that is much lesser (read 3-4 feet). I could not stop myself and went ahead to start the car right there. And to all our astonishment the car sprang into life. The gentleman from Hyundai seemed a bit tongue-tied at that moment and said that was not supposed to happen. I asked him, what would stop someone to steal the car with that kind of a feature. That was when he came up with a gem of an answer. He said, and I quote, "If the car stops after moving out of the keys range the thief won't be able to start the car back up."

That was more than enough for me to go back inside and fetch the keys. I returned the keys and thanked the gentleman for such an enlightening experience.

I think you stretched the keyless start a bit too far! Never leave the keys in the car.
The keyless start option is more of a convenience thingy - opening & starting the car, with keys is so old-fashioned
Thats that!

[pravinkenator]

Test drove i10 grand diesel today. Superb car, quite spacious for its segment, the 1.1 L diesel engine is good for daily city compute. The pickup and ride quality was linear. And, absolutely minimal cabin noise (I drive Honda Amaze )

The only thing I felt a bit on the downside was that the ride was a bit bouncy. This may be because of uneven or wrong Tyre pressure. Overall, a good package ! Kudos Hyundai !

[civicsense]

After a month-and-a-half wait, I am due to take delivery of my Grand i10 Sportz Petrol (Stardust colour) later today. Will send an ownership experience in a couple of days...

[JayPrashanth]

Link to News Section

Hyundai India's big success of the year has been the Grand i10 hatchback, with the car notching up sales of over 20,000 units within 2 months of its launch. While the Grand i10's petrol and diesel engined variants are available with 5 speed manual gearboxes as standard, Hyundai did announce that an automatic version of the Grand i10's petrol model will be available soon. This announcement was made at the launch of the Grand i10.



From the looks of it, the Grand i10's petrol automatic variant is just days away from being launched. In fact, an advertisement appearing on a daily newspaper in Tamil Nadu has pegged the ex-showroom price of the Hyundai Grand i10 petrol automatic at 5.73 lakh rupees. This advertisement indicates that Hyundai dealers have already received the price list of the petrol automatic variant of the Grand i10 and that bookings of the same are already on.

The automatic variant of the Grand i10 is powered by the same 1.2 liter-4 cylinder Kappa petrol engine that outputs 83 PS-115 Nm. The five speed manual gearbox has been replaced by a 4 speed automatic gearbox. The price of the Hyundai Grand i10 petrol automatic, at 5.73 lakhs ex-showroom Vellore, makes the variant the most expensive petrol variant of the lot. Gauging by the price of the car, the automatic version of the Grand i10 petrol is likely to be offered in Sportz trim.

Notably, Hyundai India has discontinued the production of the i10's automatic variants to make way for the Grand i10 automatic. also, the South Korean car maker has plans of boosting production capacity at its Sriperumbudur factory to minimize waiting periods for the hot selling Grand i10. Meanwhile, rumours suggest that Hyundai will also equip the diesel engined version of the Grand i10 with a 4 speed automatic gearbox.

Source TheAutomotiveIndia

[RSR]

Fantastic! It means the prices have been sent to the dealers, and maybe the demo cars too. All that's needed now is an official launch.

I hope the pictures posted prior to the Grand i10's launch (subsequently withdrawn on Hyundai's request) are correct and the gearbox comes with a tiptronic functionality. It would definitely be a significant step up from the P-R-N-D-2-L with a separate O/D button for 4th gear as on the (now discontinued) i10 Automatic and even the i20 Automatic.

Hyundai must also launch the much needed Grand i10 CRDi Automatic and ramp up production quickly to meet demand. I'm glad they have smartly realised that waiting periods drive away customers and that off-the-shelf availability is the best way to push sales.

Some stupid dealers (and even the marketing departments of manufacturers) boast about waiting periods to show there is great demand for the product, but this is utter rubbish. No one wants to pay a huge booking amount to the dealer with absolutely no idea of even when his/her car will be put together at the factory. The longer the waiting period, the more customers are lost. There is cut-throat competition from equally good products in almost all segments and no car, however good it is, deserves a waiting period of more than a couple of weeks or so.

I haven't test driven the Grand i10 till now. I hope the test drive cars arrive soon. The diesel automatic's launch along with the petrol would be great, but I think they may take more time to test it and launch it at the Auto Expo, and also reveal the compact sedan version of the Grand i10 at the same event.

I hope they launch the Automatics in more than one variant. Asta(O), Sportz and Magna would be ideal.

[msmatic]

Just spoke to a dealer, he confirmed that AT is available in Sportz and Asta trims, which means that safety features(ABS and Airbags) won't be available in the AT version . Really stupid move by Hyundai, don't see why the AT version should not get the safety features.

Hope they change their decision and come up with an AT Asta(O) trim.

[Guna]

AT officially launched now, ACI Reports: http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...le-363458.aspx

"The Grand i10 automatic is priced at Rs 5.95 lakh for the Sportz and Rs 6.23 lakh for Asta (all prices, ex-showroom, Mumbai)."

[RSR]

Originally Posted by msmatic

Just spoke to a dealer, he confirmed that AT is available in Sportz and Asta trims, which means that safety features(ABS and Airbags) won't be available in the AT version. Really stupid move by Hyundai, don't see why the AT version should not get the safety features.

Hope they change their decision and come up with an AT Asta(O) trim.

If the Automatic is not available in Asta(O), then it is indeed very stupid on Hyundai's part to launch the car without ABS and airbags, even as an option.

Prospective customers must pressurise Hyundai to include safety features. Why should Automatic buyers compromise on safety? I'll test drive the automatic once the demo cars arrive at dealerships, and then walk out without making any commitment. If the salesman asks for feedback, I'll tell him/write on the feedback form - "No safety features, NO buy", plain and simple. This kind of attitude (not providing safety features, even as optional) shouldn't be tolerated at all. It should be strongly discouraged.

[nim_peter]

Great news. But why a 4 speed AT, won't a 5 speed AT be more efficient? AT was out of favour in India due to the low FE, though technology has changed since. A diesel AT will make even more sense.

[superbhikari]

Hyundai India website is still not showing any details regarding AT Grand i10. Can any one confirm if it's 4-speed AT with trip-tonic or without? The two concerns regarding my buying decision of a Grand i10 AT are - (1) Low FE (2) Lack of Airbags and ABS. Even if Diesel AT will be launched it will be priced around 1 lac+ than petrol AT which will take the on-road ex-Delhi price to 7 Lac+ which will be stretching the budget too far. I will prefer to wait till February to see the scenario much clearly. Honda Brio AT is 6.3L vs Grand i10 Asta AT 6 L. Brio is a 5-speed AT with better FE and has ABS & Airbags but less space and low GC apart from toyish design. Grand i10 AT - lots of space - cabin+boot, very well designed interior+exterior, Lot of features, Rear AC vents but supposedly low FE and no ABS, Airbags.

[BunnyPunia]

Originally Posted by superbhikari

Hyundai India website is still not showing any details regarding AT Grand i10. Can any one confirm if it's 4-speed AT with trip-tonic or without? The two concerns regarding my buying decision of a Grand i10 AT are - (1) Low FE (2) Lack of Airbags and ABS. Even if Diesel AT will be launched it will be priced around 1 lac+ than petrol AT which will take the on-road ex-Delhi price to 7 Lac+ which will be stretching the budget too far. I will prefer to wait till February to see the scenario much clearly. Honda Brio AT is 6.3L vs Grand i10 Asta AT 6 L. Brio is a 5-speed AT with better FE and has ABS & Airbags but less space and low GC apart from toyish design. Grand i10 AT - lots of space - cabin+boot, very well designed interior+exterior, Lot of features, Rear AC vents but supposedly low FE and no ABS, Airbags.

Here's a pic from our website. Yes, the gearbox allows manual shifting.

ARAI rated economy stands at 16.7kmpl (16.5 for instance for Brio) - this answers your query above

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by pravinkenator

the 1.1 L diesel engine is good for daily city compute. The pickup and ride quality was linear. And, absolutely minimal cabin noise (I drive Honda Amaze )

Hi !

You must be enjoying your Amaze. I presume it's a diesel. Can you just give an idea by what extent cabin noise of Grand was lesser than your car. What about city drive-ability of Grand in comparison to Amaze diesel?

Thanks

[pravinkenator]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Hi !

You must be enjoying your Amaze. I presume it's a diesel. Can you just give an idea by what extent cabin noise of Grand was lesser than your car. What about city drive-ability of Grand in comparison to Amaze diesel?

Thanks

Hi,

Yes, I do own an amaze diesel. Though the NVH levels of Amaze is something which does not affect the daily ride, still it is on the higher side (It is a trade off for using a aluminum casing engine which is lighter and provides awesome mileage when compared to an Iron casting based engine). For example, there is a prominent shake in the cabin when the engine shuts down and a significant amount of vibration in the clutch pedal. On the contrary, I felt that the grand's diesel engine is much refined in terms of NVH infact, seamless engine start and stop, nil clutch vibration and the overall cabin noise almost close to nil while idling. But, the NVH levels does not really affect the daily use of the car.

I think that the grand is a perfect car for city maneuver and daily use. But, it will definitely lack the punch for highway drive. On the contrary, Amaze (Though it may be wrong to compare a C1 sedan with a hatchback) provides excellent power and driveablility in city as well as highways.

[Burn_out]

Thanks @teemus, @CARDEEP & @mechramc for the insight. Now, even I suspect some foul play with the keys in the previous TD vehicle.

I am going for a TD today at another Hyundai dealer in the city and would verify the points you made. Fingers crossed on the outcome. I will update you once the TD is over. Hoping I can get my hands on the AT version.