Hyundai India delivers 18,000 Venues, claims 50,000 bookings since launch

Hyundai Motor India has announced that it has crossed the 50,000-unit bookings mark since the launch of its first compact SUV – the Venue – on May 21, 2019. The company also says it has delivered 18,000 units of the SUV. 

As per industry sales data, the Chennai-based manufacturer despatched 7,049 units in May and another 8,763 units in June, totaling 15,812 units, which means an additional 2,188 units have also been delivered since then and counting.  

The Venue drove into the Top 5 best-selling UVs chart both in May (in fourth place) and June, when it came tantalisingly close to going past the No. 1 UV, the Maruti Vitara Brezza. 

According to Vikas Jain, National Sales Head, Hyundai Motor India said, ”We are overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response with 50,000 bookings within 60 days of launch. We are glad that Indian customers have shown their faith in the Blue Link connected technology as of the total Venues delivered so far, over 55 percent of them (9,900 units) are the Blue Link-enabled variant. Out of the 50,000 bookings, over 35 percent (19,250) of customers have preferred the Hyundai’s in-house Dual Clutch Transmission technology.”

“Our SUV market share is 21 percent with the combined sales of the Venue, Creta and Tucson,” he added.

The top-end SX petrol variant (with DCT) and the SXO (manual) variants in both petrol and diesel get the Blue Link technology.   

Aggressive pricing
With an aggressive pricing strategy for the Venue, Hyundai has surprised the Indian market by positioning the global model squarely with Tata Motors' Nexon, which retails at Rs 649,000 ex-showroom, for its base petrol variant. The Venue E-MT 1.2 petrol is priced at Rs 650,000.

While the diesel 1.4-litre Venue at Rs 775,000 is Rs 7,000 dearer than the segment leader Maruti Vitara Brezza, the catch is that the  popular Maruti and the UV market leader only has a limited run with the Fiat-sourced 1.3-litre diesel engine, which will be discontinued come April 2020.

As is known, the Hyundai Venue is available with a 90hp, 1.4-litre diesel, an 83hp, 1.2-litre petrol and a 120hp, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine options, the last of which is also available with a 7-speed dual-clutch auto gearbox.  Earlier, Hyundai had revealed that the petrol-diesel bookings split stands at 64-36. The carmaker had also disclosed that a majority of the Venue petrol bookings are for the 1.0-litre turbo petrol variant mated to the DCT gearbox. 

High on connectivity
The Venue has a whole host of connectivity features. The Venue has been tom-tommed as India’s first ‘connected’ car, which means it comes with its own dedicated or ‘embedded’ SIM card that allows the user to connect with the car in many ways. You can lock and unlock the doors, start the car engine and switch on the air-con remotely from a cellphone. Other features include tracking the vehicle’s location, speed, tyre pressures and even enabling geo fencing.

Hyundai is known to load its cars with maximum features, and the Venue isn’t an exception. In terms of safety, the top variants come with six airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, ESP, hill-start assist, Isofix child seat mounts and speed-sensing door locks, to name a few. Also onboard are premium features like a sunroof and wireless phone charging, and kit like projector headlamps with DRLs, cornering lamps, LED tail-lamps, cruise control, Arkamys sound, rear aircon vents, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android and Apple connectivity, aside from the much-talked-about connectivity tech, which the company has christened ‘Blue Link’.

The top-end SX petrol variant (with DCT) and the SXO (manual) variants in both petrol and diesel get the Blue Link technology.   

What makes Blue Link special is that it is India’s first SIM-card-based service offered in a car, which allows users to manage and perform a host of functions thanks to a dedicated server the SIM talks to. A suite of safety and security features, location-based services, driver alerts, voice commands and remote assistance can be accessed via a smartphone app.

The Hyundai Venue takes on the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300 in the Indian market.