Hyundai is readying the heavily updated Verna sedan for its world premier at the upcoming Chengdu Motor show in China.
The refreshed Verna’s styling brings the car more in line with the newer Hyundai models sold abroad, like the latest-gen Sonata, the refreshed Elantra (set to launch in India this month) and the recently updated Ioniq.
The updates seen on the Verna facelift are in line with those mentioned in our report dating back to August 2018. The new Verna’s front styling now gets a more aggressive and edgy look as compared to its predecessor. Up front, the car now sees a wider and sleeker iteration of the trademark cascading grille that gets chrome trim on higher variants, along with much larger headlamps that neatly connect with the grille. The headlamps themselves have quite a bit of detail now, with chrome outlines seperating three different sections – the projector headlamp, the parking lamp and the turn indicator. The new Verna is expected to come with all-LED headlamps, at least for the top variants. The bumper gets an all-new design too, with a mix of black plastic and satin grey bits.
Moving on to the sides, the Verna facelift gets new alloy wheel designs, with the higher variants getting diamond-cut dual-tone alloys.
Just like the front, major changes are seen on the new Verna’s rear. The boot and tail-lamp cluster design is all new, and the car now gets a connected tail-lamp design with thin LED strip that runs across the model's width. 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 a satin aluminium trim. The refreshed car is actually longer than its predecessor by around 25mm, thanks to the new front and rear styling tweaks.
What the new Verna also gets is a larger touchscreen setup and more connected car features, just like the ones seen on other global models and the Venue SUV in India.
While the model shown here will come with just a single 1.4-litre petrol engine in China, 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 duty in other Hyundai models, like the next-gen Creta and the refreshed Elantra. The same set of engines also powers the recently launched Kia Seltos SUV.
The new 1.5-litre diesel engine on the refreshed Verna will see its output go down from 128hp to 115hp, while the torque figure too will downgrade from 260Nm to 250Nm; additionally, the new Verna’s 1.5-litre petrol engine will also be packaged to take a 48V hybrid system. However, it remains to be seen whether this system is an option in the facelift.
The refreshed Hyundai Verna will see competition from the likes of the all-new Honda City that is also due next year, along with key rivals like the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Skoda Rapid and the recently-updated Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen Vento. Expect the updated Hyundai Verna to reach Indian showrooms sometime in second-half of 2020.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
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