Hyundai will bring the heavily updated Verna to our shores next year. The model will first go on sale in China and then will be launched in India some time in middle of 2020 – after the price announcement of the next-gen Hyundai Creta. While the refreshed Verna’s exterior had been seen earlier, we bring you the first images of the updated sedan’s interior, which provides a glimpse of what we can expect on the India-spec Verna facelift when it arrives in Hyundai showrooms next year.
Compared to the more than significant changes seen on the car’s exterior, there aren’t many design or layout tweaks seen on the inside. While the dashboard layout remains the same, the updated car does get minor tweaks in the form of a different interior shade and seat texture combination. However, the big news is the inclusion of a digital instrument cluster, which will soon become a common feature in upcoming Hyundai models. We were the first to report that the next-gen Hyundai i20 will come with this feature, as will the 2020 Creta. Additionally, Hyundai is also expected to equip the refreshed Verna with a slightly larger 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system that comes with a better interface than the current model’s 7.0-inch unit. The Hyundai BlueLink connected car tech will also be included on the updated Verna. For now, this feature is only available on the Hyundai Venue and the recently launched Hyundai Elantra facelift.
As w’ve mentioned earlier, the exterior updates on the new Verna are more significant than the interior, with the car getting a much wider version of Hyundai’s ‘cascading grille’, new-look headlamps and a tweaked front bumper design. At the back, the boot and tail-lamp cluster design is all-new as well. The midsize sedan also sports a connected tail-lamp design, with a thin LED strip that runs across the boot. The license plate is now placed a bit lower, but is still on the boot, while the rear bumper also gets rectangular, vertically-placed reflectors and a dual-tone faux-diffuser, replete with satin aluminium trim.
The refreshed Hyundai Verna for India will come with a new set of 1.5-litre petrol and diesel engine options. These new units will be BS6-compliant and will also be seen on under the bonnets of other upcoming Hyundai models, like the next-gen Creta. The same set of engines already sees duty on the recently launched Kia Seltos.
The new BS6-compliant 1.5-litre diesel engine on the refreshed Verna will make 115hp and 250Nm – that’s 13hp and 10Nm less than the current 1.6-litre diesel makes. Compared to the current Verna’s 123hp/151Nm 1.6-litre petrol mill, the new Verna’s 1.5-litre petrol may produce 8hp and 7Nm less, but it will have the advantage of being packaged to take a 48V hybrid system. It remains to be seen whether this mild-hybrid system is an option in the facelift, though it has been made available on the 2020 Hyundai Creta that went on sale in China recently. A strong rival to the heavily updated Verna will be the all-new Honda City that will come to India in the latter half of next year. Additionally, the model will also rival the Maruti Ciaz, Skoda Rapid, Toyota Yaris and the Volkswagen Vento in our market.
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
Lenny D'sa
Saptarshi Mondal
