10 Cars That Pushed Segment Boundaries This Year

2022 was a year of umpteen launches with carmakers going crazy with new launches and facelifts. And amongst these fresh offerings came products that broke boundaries in their segments with new features, tech, and powertrain options.

Let’s take a look at the cars that went above and beyond their segment limits and brought a change about their notion in 2022:

Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Hyryder

The Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Hyryder made plenty of noise in the compact SUV space with what’s under the hood. For the first time, the compact SUV space saw a strong hybrid powertrain option in a sea of conventional turbo-petrols and diesel engines. This strong hybrid powertrain has become their USP as well by offering incredible fuel efficiency and you can know more about the Hyryder and Grand Vitara here.  

Maruti Baleno and Toyota Glanza

The new Baleno and Glanza brought a couple of premium features to the premium hatchback segment. Apart from the general changes that a facelift brings to the exterior and interior, the hatchbacks brought features like heads-up display and 360-degree camera, which were limited vehicles from a couple of segments above. Know all about the hatchbacks in our detailed first drive article.

Tata Tiago EV

Tata is the ambassador when it comes to bringing the shift towards electrification to the masses. First the Nexon EV, then the Tigor EV, and now the Tiago EV. The latter, which was launched just recently, became the most affordable EV in the country before it was usurped by the PMV Eas-E EV. Even still, in terms of a practical daily EV for a family of four, the Tiago EV makes the most sense. A pusher of boundaries indeed. Head here to know all its details in 10 images.

Toyota Innova Hycross

The Toyota Innova Hycross broke cover as a more premium MPV than it ever was and it pushed segment boundaries in more than just one way. For the first time ever, the nameplate got a hybrid powertrain, ADAS features, and a more premium second row experience – deets of which have been spilled in our detailed first drive review.

Kia EV6

Kia’s futuristic looking EV6 is one of the first cars to debut this very useful feature: V2L (vehicle to load). Basically, in the case of a power outage, your EV6 will be able to power certain appliances using the charge in the EV6’s battery. A nifty feature that should come useful in a country where power outages are frequent. Tap the link to read our first drive review of the electric hatchback.

Mahindra Scorpio N

The Mahindra Scorpio N’s pricing puts it bang in the territory of the compact SUV space. And for the same money, you’re getting an SUV with a rugged body-on-frame platform, butch looks, all the features you would need, and powerful powertrain. Clearly, all the basic essence one requires in a SUV offered in a single package, the deets of which can be found here. 

Tata Punch

Tata launched the Punch in a segment where premiumness was a taboo. It forayed into the micro SUV space with its rugged, no-nonsense looks and brought along with it a host of features that the space had never seen before. It upped the cars of its ilk in every sense and embodies the true meaning of pushing segment boundaries. How so? Head here to know.

Honda City Hybrid

As the name suggests, this version of the Honda City brings the hybrid powertrain to the compact sedan space. Not only this, it also gets ADAS functionality which is also a first for the compact sedan segment in the country. To know how the new autonomous features and hybrid powertrain work together, head to our first drive review.

Also Read: Here’s What Tata’s Got Planned For The Upcoming 2023 Auto Expo

These were the cars that stood out the most with their stubbornness to not imply to preconceived norms. They introduced something to their segment for the first time and hopefully, this will turn out to be a trend where carmakers try to one-up each other. And in that case, there’s only one winner - the customer. We say bring on the new launches!