Hyundai working on Fronx rival, launch in 2 years

Hyundai will introduce an all-new SUV alongside the Venue to spruce up its offering in the SUV and crossover market in India, and maintain its market share. This new model will be based on the Bayon sold oversesas.

Sources say a crossover based on the new-gen i20 platform (codenamed: Bc4i) is under development, and it will hit the roads in FY2027. The carmaker will launch the crossover in India in second-gen form to take on the Maruti Suzuki Fronx, Toyota Taisor, Citroen C3 and Tata Nexon – the crossover SUVs.

The model will be positioned in the core of the Indian passenger vehicle market – Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh – and offer a different-looking alternative to its existing Venue SUV.

People in the know say that the model, to be produced from the company’s existing Sriperumbudur facility, can potentially add about 1 lakh units to its SUV volume. The addition of a crossover will help Hyundai sustain its high-capacity utilisation at the factory, with production of the all-new Venue (codenamed QU2i) moving to Talegaon, Maharashtra, in 2025.

The Bayon is a crossover SUV based on the i20, like what the Fronx is to the Baleno. It made its global debut back in 2021 and recently received a mid-life update. The facelift gets a full-width LED light bar like the Verna, and a horizontally positioned grille with headlamps positioned at each corner. It has coupe-SUV like silhouette with a tapering roofline.

On the inside, it shares quite a few common bits with the India-spec i20, including the dashboard, seat, infotainment screen, instrument cluster and control stalks, among others. The high level of parts sharing between the i20 and the Bayon should help Hyundai price it competitively. So, the price difference between the two should be similar to that between the Baleno and Fronx.

The Bayon, overseas, comes with a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine in two states of tune. For India, expect the SUV to share its engine options with the i20 and the Venue, for greater economies of scale.

Expect more details on Hyundai's Fronx rival to be revealed once the launch nears.