Hyundai Creta launched at Rs 8.59 lakh, to compete with Renault's Duster

Hyundai India entered the fast-growing SUV segment on Tuesday with the launch of Creta, its reply to Renault's Duster and Mahindra's XUV500. The car is priced starting Rs 8.59 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) .
 
Nissan Terrano, Ford EcoSport and Tata Safari Storme, all priced between Rs 6.75 lakh and Rs 15.99 lakh, are the new SUV's other competitors. While Creta's  petrol variant is priced starting Rs 8.59 lakh, the diesel variant starts at Rs 9.46 lakh.
 
In order to cash in on the festive rush, Hyundai brought forward the launch of its maiden SUV, which will be available in both petrol and diesel variants.
 
All variants will get ABS and EBD as standard. Mid-level variants offer dual front airbags while the top-end SX gets side and curtain airbags with VSM and ESC.
 
A 1.6-litre CRDi VGT diesel engine delivers 128 PS and 259 Nm of torque, and is paired to a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission. Also available is a 1.4-litre CRDi diesel rated at 90 PS and 220 Nm of torque.
 

For buyers on the lookout for a petrol variant, HMIL will offer its 1.6-litre Dual VTVT engine with a 6-speed manual transmission as well.
 
According to The Economic Times, the South Korean car maker has received 15,000 pre-bookings till now.
 
"The response to Creta has been tremendous. We have had successful product launches in last couple of years but none has matched the reception that Creta has," the report quoted Rakesh Srivastava, SR VP, sales and marketing at Hyundai Motor India, as saying.
 
Hyundai expects 25 per cent of its total sales to come from the petrol-run vehicle and almost 15 per cent of it will be with automatic transmission.

(With inputs from agencies)