Bye Bye, Hyundai Santa Fe

Hyundai has discontinued the Santa Fe, the Korean carmaker’s only 7-seat SUV, owing to low  sales numbers. Hyundai managed to sell only 45 cars in the first four months of this fiscal (April-July), while the competition was selling more than 1000 cars a month.

The 7-seater SUV had a long run in the Indian market. It was first launched back in 2010 and was later refreshed in 2014. The model on sale was the latter one launched at Auto Expo 2014. The top-spec model was priced at Rs 31.07 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) landing it in the territory of more aspirational SUVs like the Audi Q3 and the BMW X1 resulting in low sales volumes.

The Santa Fe was powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine producing 197PS of power and 436Nm of peak torque paired to a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard. The automatic variant featured a 6-speed torque convertor and an all-wheel drive system.

The Santa Fe was technically competing against SUVs like the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, and the Volkswagen Tiguan.

With the exit of the Santa Fe, Hyundai is now left with only two SUVs, the Creta and the Tucson, in the Indian market. However, by 2019, Hyundai will be adding a new sub-4-metre SUV to its lineup.

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