Hyundai Casper coming to India Or Not rivals | V3Cars

08 September 2021
By Mahesh Yadav
0

A rumour is surfacing online claiming that the Hyundai Casper is not coming to India. People are expecting it to rival the Tata Punch, which is a 4m SUV. We have reasons to agree and disagree with this rumour. Let’s see what’s news here and what’s fake news.

Fake News - Hyundai Casper Will Rival Tata Punch

In our recent dimension and engine spec comparison, we busted the myth that the Casper will compete with the Punch. The Hyundai Casper is smaller than even the Santro. The Santro itself is about 10cm shorter in length than the Nexa Ignis. Meanwhile, the Ignis is another 100mm or shorter than the Tata Tiago NRG.

Not to mention, you also have the Renault Kwid, Datsun Redi-Go and Maruti Suzuki S-Presso to consider if you want a small crossover.

Here’s a quick dimension comparison between the Casper, Ignis, Tiago NRG and Santro:

HYUNDAI CASPER VS COMPETITION DIMENSIONS COMPARISON
	HYUNDAI CASPER	NEXA IGNIS	TATA TIAGO NRG	HYUNDAI SANTRO
Length	3595mm	3700mm	3802mm	3610mm
Width	1595mm	1690mm	1667mm	1645mm
Height	1575mm	1595mm	1537mm	1560mm
Wheelbase	2400mm	2435mm	2400mm	2400mm
Ground Clearance	180mm*	180mm	181mm	165mm

As you can see, the Casper is much smaller than the Ignis. So, it can’t compete with the Tata Punch at all.

Rumour: Hyundai Casper Is Not Coming To India

It’s difficult to say that the Casper is definitely not coming to India as it’s too early. For now, we’ll tag it as a rumour. We have reasons to keep our fingers crossed for the Casper.

A Lot Of White Space In Portfolio

As we all know, the SUV and crossover craze is probably at its peak right now. Everybody and their neighbour want a high-ground clearance car.

On the budget end of the spectrum, we have the Kwid, S-Presso and the Redi Go.

Move up the price band, and you have the Tata Tiago NRG and Nexa Ignis.

Spend some more cash if you want the Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger or Tata Punch.

If you have a bigger budget, then the options open up to Magnite turbo, Kiger turbo, Nexon, Venue, Sonet, Brezza and XUV300.

How many Hyundai cars do you see on this list? Here’s the count:

Number of SUV/Crossovers
	Entry Level	Compact	Affordable 4m	4m Premium	Total
Maruti Toyota	S-Presso	Ignis	-	Brezza	3
Renault Nissan	Kwid, Redi-Go	-	Kiger, Magnite	Kiger turbo, Magnite turbo	6
Hyundai	-	-	-	Venue	1
Kia	-	-	-	Sonet	1
Tata	-	Tiago NRG	Punch	Nexon	3
Mahindra	-	-	-	XUV300	1

I’m mentioning the Kiger and Magnite twice as they cover the two price bands very well with their turbo and non-turbo models offering vastly different driving experiences at different price points. However, even if you consider the turbo and non-turbo models as 1 car, you still end up with 4 cars in the Renault Nissan’s basket. That’s still more than their rivals even if you include the Tata Punch, which is yet to go on sale.

Hyundai, meanwhile, has nothing below the Venue. The Venue positions itself as a premium alternative in the 4m SUV space, which further creates room in Hyundai’s portfolio with nothing to compete with the Kwid, Ignis and Punch. The Casper is the answer to that.

Small In Size - Premium In Positioning

While the Casper is smaller in size than the Santro, it can easily take on the Ignis. Borrowing Santro’s frame and Grand i10’s 1.2L petrol and CNG engines, the Casper can easily position itself as a worthy rival for the Ignis even with a smaller size. That’s because the Casper can offer the interior, ambience and features that are on par with or better than the Grand i10 Nios. So, pricing it around the Grand i10 while using Santro’s frame is not a bad idea at all. It’s a win-win for Hyundai and their customers who want a small, but well-put-together and feature-rich second car for city driving.

We have seen the images of the Casper with sunroof, it’ll get a turbo petrol engine with what looks like ram air intake. For the Indian market, we can’t expect a sunroof in such a small car. At best, may get the 1.1-litre and 1.2-litre petrol engine options for the Casper. With this, Hyundai should have no problem competing at least with the Ignis and Tiago NRG.

Verdict - Is Casper Coming To India Or Not?

The rumours claim that the Casper is not coming to India. But, we strongly believe that the Casper can satisfactorily fill a lot of white space in the budget end of Hyundai’s portfolio to compete with the affordable crossover rivals. We are betting on seeing the Hyundai Casper in the Indian showrooms by the end of 2024.