Hyundai drives in Creta SUV to take on Renault Duster, Mahindra Scorpio

Hyundai drove in Creta on Tuesday to fuel more competition in the compact SUV segment. The car will be pitched mainly against Renault's Duster, Mahindra's Scorpio and Ford's Eco Sport.

In pics: Hyundai launches new SUV creta

The Creta sports an entry price of Rs 8.59 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the 1.6-litre petrol variant, though the diesel version — which is expected to see high action as well as competition — starts at Rs 9.46 lakh. There are two engine options in diesel — 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre Stock Market Trading Tips

The small SUV category was among the fastest-growing segments in the domestic car market just some time back, though it has slowed down recently. Lack of new products and narrowing gap between petrol and diesel prices are among the reasons behind the slowdown.

However, analysts expect that new compact SUVs coming from Maruti Suzuki, Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors and Tata Motors, along with existing models, will boost growth in this segment.

"We are confident that the Creta will help us establish a strong position in the compact SUV segment," Hyundai India MD B S Seo said Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer

Creta is the first low-cost SUV from the Korean manufacturer and has been developed on the platform that gave birth to 'ix25' SUV, which is being sold in China. "We have taken heavy inputs from the R&D team in India before driving the product here," Seo said.

Sales of Hyundai have gone up 7% in the first quarter of this fiscal on the back of new launches, mainly the Elite i20 compact. The company now intends to drive in a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), the only category where it does not have a product, Seo said Nifty Trading Tips

The compact SUV market in India was originally created by the Duster, which witnessed strong growth for Renault brand. However, Duster has failed to keep pace with its initial success as competition became steep. Ford's Eco Sport also had a good run in this segment, though the company played heavily on the pricing front by keeping the vehicle's length under 4 meter to enjoy the benefit of a being a small car and avail lower excise duty Financial Astrology

The Scorpio is one of the oldest models in the low-cost SUV segment, though its big size and relatively-rugged driving characteristics had seen other players emerge strongly in the category.

Industry officials said the desire for SUVs remains high for a variety of reasons. "Improvement in the road infrastructure and aspirations of relatively-young buyers have led to a surge in SUV sales. I feel that the launch of new products from strong players will only fuel this trend further," a top official with a rival brand of Hyundai said, requesting anonymity Indian stock market astrology prediction