All-new Hyundai i10 for Europe revealed

There’s already been much hullabaloo about Hyundai’s soon-to-be-launched car for India, the Grand i10. Slated to fill ever so slight gap between the current i10 and its larger sibling, the i20, this new car is based on the company’s BA platform (or IA if you’re from Europe). Now the thing is, while this car may be adding to the Korean car maker’s portfolio in India, it is actually replacing the current generation i10 in Europe. Known simply as the New Generation i10 in the Old Continent, this replacement comes five years after the debut of the original i10 and is all set to take the European A-Segment by storm. Related: Hyundai Grand i10 First Drive

This New Generation i10 offers extremely high levels of comfort and safety equipment with many features more common to higher segments. To woo customers, it now offers equipment such as automatic climate control, heated leather steering and cruise control with speed limiter. All this really goes a long way in providing bigger-car comfort, while on the safety front it features stability control and front curtain airbags as standard.

Don’t think this is just some sort of facelift though. The New Generation i10 is longer by 80mm and wider by 65mm as compared to its predecessor and even rides 50mm lower for increased stability. This increase in dimensions offers improved combined legroom, a whopping 1,890mm of it and boot space of 252 litres (that’s 10-percent more than before) – all of which Hyundai claims to be best-in-class. In fact, even the wheelbase has gone up by 5mm, which combined with the relocated rear dampers delivers more precise wheel control over all types of road surface.

Although it might be the same car as the Grand i10, there are a few subtle differences between the car which was revealed a couple of days back in India and the one which was just introduced in Europe. On the front-end, the first thing one notices is the addition of LED-running lights over the fog lamps in the European model. The grilles are a bit different too. While the Grand i10 gets slats on the lower grille and a chrome strip on the New Generation i10 has a honeycomb affair throughout. The roof rails are also noticeably absent on the Euro-spec version while the alloys are different as well. Hyundai claims that the Indian version has also been increased in size over the European version, and this difference shows in the C-pillar treatment. The New Generation i10 features smaller rear windows as well as a rear windscreen which tends to wrap around the sides a bit.

This New Generation i10 is set to make a proper debut at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show in September and will enter production around the same time. The Korean auto giant plans to manufacture this car at its factory in Ízmit, Turkey, and in doing so, will become Hyundai’s first A-segment car to be produced in Europe. Stay tuned for more updates in the run up to Frankfurt!

Also Read: Hyundai Grand i10 to launch on September 3