Auto / Hyundai Venue bookings cross 20,000 mark

Hyundai Venue is the hot thing in the Indian car market right now. There has been a lot of buzz about the new compact SUV following its launch on May 21. People are not only inquiring about it, but they want to buy it as well. A few days back, we had reported that Hyundai Venue bookings had crossed 17,000 mark and now 20,000 figure has also been breached.

With a starting price of 6.50 lakh (ex-showroom, India), Hyundai Venue has entered the compact SUV segment all guns blazing. The new entrant has already become a serious threat to rivals like Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport and Mahindra XUV300.

Hyundai Motor India has struck the right chord with Venue since the very beginning. It is not that the bookings have jumped only after the launch of the new compact SUV. On the very first day of the start of Venue bookings on May 2, more than 2,000 units were booked. The car maker is pinning a lot of hopes on Venue, which occupies a slot below Creta in the company's line-up.

There are three engine options available with Hyundai Venue. The most powerful is an all-new 1.0-litre Kappa T-GDI petrol engine producing 120 PS and 172 Nm of torque. It comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox or an in-house developed 7-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). Then there is the 1.2-litre Kappa Dual VTVT petrol motor delivering 83 PS and 115 Nm of torque. The engine is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Also present is a 1.4-litre U2 CRDi diesel mill churning out 90 PS and 220 Nm of torque. This engine is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox.

Apart from powerful technical specifications, Hyundai Venue is available with modern features as well. Giving it a sporty look are features like dark chrome front grille, projector headlamps with LED DRLs, projector fog lamps, LED tail lamps, roof rails, shark finn antenna and diamond cut alloy wheels. Inside the cabin, one comes across features like three-spoke multifunction steering wheel, 20.32-cm touchscreen AVNT with HD display, wireless phone charger, air purifier, cruise control and electric sunroof.

Unveiled in India on April 17, Hyundai Venue is available in four variants -- E, S, SX and SX (O). There is also an SX+ option, available only with Venue 1.0 Turbo GDI DCT. It is the most expensive of all the variants at Rs 11.10 lakh (ex-showroom, India).