Scoop! Hyundai's Elite i20 crossover caught doing test runs

Compact SUVs and crossovers have quite caught the fantasy of Indian car-buyers over the last few years. Renault's Duster and Ford EcoSport paved the way to this all new segment. Soon, manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Skoda and Toyota tried to grab a share in this segment by introducing beefed up versions of their regular hatchbacks. However, all of them received a lukewarm response by the market.

Hyundai's 'me too' contender - a beefed up version of its premium hatchback - Elite i20, has been spied by a Motorbash reader. The car will receive minimal (if any) mechanical changes apart from a butch looking body kit, different alloy wheels and roof-rails to give it an SUV-ish look. The Cross Polo, Fabia Scout and the Etios Cross, all came when their respective hatchbacks were fairly old and required some spice to sustain interest in the products. What is confusing though, is that the Elite i20 has been launched only a couple of months ago and is doing fairly well too, so this move by Hyundai seems quite interesting. This could possibly be an interim move by Hyundai to enter the compact SUV space before the ix25 hits the showrooms sometime in 2015.

The Elite i20 crossover will face some serious heat from Fiat, which is geared up to launch the Avventura crossover - which includes a rear mounted spare wheel, higher ground clearance and more apart from plastic body claddings over the regular Punto Evo.