Hyundai Creta AWD Under Consideration

Hyundai Motor India has created quite a buzz with the global preview of its smallest SUV for India – named the Hyundai Creta, at its Chennai car manufacturing plant. The Korean car manufacturer has announced the launch date of Creta, set on July 21, 2015.

The compact SUV will be offered with one petrol engine and a couple of diesel motors, but all in front wheel drive option only. The petrol will be borrowed from the Hyundai Verna – a 1.6-litre Dual VTVT with peak power of 123PS and mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox.

Diesels include a 90PS, 1.4-litre CRDi unit also mated to a 6-speed box; and a more powerful 1.6-litre CDRi VGT churning out 128PS which comes with a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission. This makes the Hyundai Creta the most affordable diesel automatic SUV available in India.

Speaking to ZigWheels, Rakesh Srivastava, Sr Vice President - Sales and Marketing, Hyundai Motor India said that the company decided to bring an automatic gearbox instead of an all-wheel drive (AWD) variant mainly because people would use it every single day - be it city driving or on the highway; where as AWD is used once in a while or only when one goes off-roading in the Creta.

One of Hyundai Creta’s biggest competitors – Renault Duster comes in both two-wheel-drive and AWD options, which makes it a popular choice for adventurous SUV buyers. Hyundai has that in mind and one of Creta’s Product Planning Executive confirmed that although the SUV has been launched in front wheel drive version now, the company is considering launching a 4x4 variant in India to steal the thunder from Renault Duster.

The big challenge here is that the Hyundai Creta AWD would come with gear ratios that have to be altered and the 4x4 system would add to the overall weight of the SUV – which could hamper the Creta’s fuel efficiency. Hyundai could also keep the launch of the four-wheel-drive Creta for next year, to inject some excitement in to the product in 2016.

The Hyundai Creta will be launched in July to take on the likes of Nissan Terrano, Mahindra Scorpio and Renault Duster, and is expected to be priced between Rs 8 to 13 lakh.