The Hyundai Elantra facelift slated to launch in India by end-September will only come with a petrol engine option as diesel variants are not bringing numbers in this segment.
The Hyundai Elantra facelift has been long due in our country. It had been revealed in August of 2018 and it is already in sale in several international markets. After months of waiting, the Hyundai Elantra facelift is finally going to launch in India by end-September but in a petrol only variant.
Yes, we have come to learn that the Elantra facelift would launch in India with a petrol engine option only and there will be no diesel on offer. The petrol engine in question would be the BS-VI compliant version of the 2.0-liter petrol engine which puts out 152 bhp. And just like before, this engine will come mated to a 6-speed manual or a torque converter automatic transmission.
The reason behind such a decision is very simple. Petrol has clearly been the preference of buyers in the executive sedan segment. This segment anyway does quite low numbers. To give you some statistics, between April-July of 2019, Hyundai sold 214 petrol units of the Elantra while diesel Elantra sales stood at only 90.
As for some other cars in this segment, Honda has sold 1058-110 units of the Civic petrol-diesel in the same period, Skoda has sold 580-253 units of the Octavia while Toyota has sold 402-80 units of the Corolla Altis. It is clear that petrol variants have been the preference of buyers in this segment and by quite a margin.
Hyundai will however re-introduce a diesel version of the Elantra in the future, but certainly not any time soon. Hyundai’s approach with diesel engines has been quite cautious and they have stated that they will introduce BS-VI compliant diesel engines only when BS-VI grade fuel is available across India.
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Currently, the Hyundai Elantra uses a 1.6-Liter diesel engine – which it also shares with the Creta and Verna – but it will be discontinued soon. It will make way for the new 1.5-Liter diesel engine co-developed by Hyundai and Kia and was debuted with the Kia Seltos. This 1.5 Liter diesel engine will be the new mainstay of most Hyundai and Kia diesel cars and will be offered in two states of tune – 90 bhp and 115 bhp.
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As we already saw from the sales numbers, the Hyundai Elantra has been doing quite poorly in the segment. In fact, the whole executive sedan segment itself has been performing quite poorly. With this facelift and in a petrol only avatar, we expect the Elantra to make up some lost ground again. Hyundai is expected to price the Elantra facelift petrol in the Rs 14-19 lakh bracket.
