Having managed to create hype through sketches at pre- release events, the upgraded Santro promises to receive a good response from Goan car buyers. The all new car was officially unveiled in Goa on October 24 and is now on display at Hyundai showrooms.
Prashant Joshi, managing director, Goa Hyundai, Verna, says that, the Santro is receiving an overwhelming response. “We have logged in about 100 bookings and 160 inquires prior to the unveiling. Santro was always a preference of first time buyers because of its economical pricing and premium features offered in hatchback segment to suit the middle class family requirement. These loyal customers for the model will act as ambassadors to boost sales of the new launch,” he believes.
Hyundai has restricted bookings only through the online mode for the hatchback to maintain transparency and manage the rush for booking across India. According to the dealership, the booking window for the new Santro that opened on October 10, requires customers to pay a booking deposit of Rs 11,100. The price of the upgraded car starts from Rs 3.40 lakh and goes up to Rs 5.45 lakh (ex-showroom, pan-India). Joshi further informs that, the supply for initial months will be restricted to about 15-20 santro cars for dealerships as, “the vehicle is new and the gearing up for production will take some time.” In India the new Santro has already received around 23,500 online bookings.
Coming to the features of the new Santro, it has some new premium features that are said to be the first of its kind in the economical hatchback segment. These include a 17.64 cm touch screen enabled with smart phone connectivity, micro antenna, rear AC vent and parking camera. The old model was famous for its tall boy-looks and the new model has maintained the design. The car’s prominent features includes, spacious cabin and higher headroom. On the safety front it comes fitted with anti-lock braking system and driver air bags as a standard feature across all variants. A new feature introduced is the eco-coating technology. This technology eliminates odour from the AC, thereby providing a comfortable experience inside the cabin.
Giving the Santro a fresh look is its dashboard in dual tone beige and black interiors with a hint of champagne gold inserts. While the centre fascia is inspired by an elephant and gets centrally positioned power window switches and AC controls. Another eye-catching feature of the upgraded car is the propeller designed AC vents. On the exterior the upgraded model is complemented with Z shaped character lines and sporty dual tone rear bumper with new age reflectors.
The model is Euro V compliant and comes in petrol and factory fitted CNG variant available in manual and automatic transmission. “The gearbox of the AMT transmission Santro is identical to luxury automatic cars giving this vehicle a premium look,” points out Joshi.
The car is available in red, green, blue, beige, white, silver and grey colours. To provide convenience in terms of the finance for buyers , Hyundai has tied up with HDFC, SBI, ICICI , Kotak Mahindra and Yes Bank to offer customers 100 per cent on road financing option with zero per cent processing fee, valid till December 31 2018.
