Hyundai Creta spied completely undisguised

Hyundai’s upcoming crossover, the Creta, has been spied testing in Chennaiahead of its official launchin India on July 21. The  undisguised test mule previews the car’s Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design philosophy, which makes it look like shrunken version of the Santa Fe SUV.

Called the ix25 in other global markets, the Creta will be positioned above the Active i20 in Hyundai’s Indian line-up. It gets a wide hexagonal chrome-embellished grille up front flanked by curvy projector headlamps on both sides. It gets a host of styling elements like bash plated, plastic claddings and roof rails to give it a rugged appeal. 

While the Chinese-spec model comes fully loaded with all features, we can expect Hyundai to omit a few creature comforts to keepcosts in check. Despite this, we can expect the Creta to rank high on the value for money scale like the rest of the cars in the South Korean manufacturer’s line-up. Webelieve the Creta will be offered with three powertrain options – a 1.6-litre diesel engine, a 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.6-litre petrol engine, all borrowed from the Verna sedan. 

As the Creta measures 4.27 metres in length, it won’t benefit from the government’s concessions for sub-4-metre cars. Hence we can expect it to be marginally expensive than its prime rival, the Ford EcoSport. Besides the EcoSport, the Creta will also compete with other crossovers like the Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and the upcoming Maruti Suzuki S-Cross.