Hyundai has officially released the first set of exterior images, engine and feature details, and an interior sketch of the next-gen 2020 i20 hatchback, which will see a world premier at next month’s Geneva motor show. The new i20 is expected to come to India in mid-2020, just before the festive season.
New 2020 Hyundai i20 exterior
Exterior images of the new i20 first surfaced online yesterday, showing its exterior in production guise. Hyundai says the new i20 is the brand’s first hatchback to feature the brand’s ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ design language that made its debut with the Le Fil Rouge concept car (shown recently at Auto Expo 2020) and is also seen on international models like the latest-gen Sonata sedan.
The new i20 gets aggressive looks, with multiple angular cuts and creases to its nose, doors and fenders. It comes with Hyundai’s blacked-out 'cascading grille' with a diamond-pattern mesh design. The angular theme continues with the triangle-shaped fog-light enclosures that were first seen on the facelifted Elantra. It features chrome trim on its side and also gets a contrast ‘Phantom Black’ roof. At the back, the new i20 gets large tail-lamps with angular Z-shaped LED inserts. It also gets the upper half of the boot lid blacked out (similar to the Tata Altroz).
The new i20 for international markets is 5mm longer, 16mm wider and 24mm shorter than the outgoing model, but it features a marginally longer (by 10mm) wheelbase over its predecessor. The current India-spec i20 has been shortened to 3,985mm to qualify for tax sops and the next-gen model will have the same done before it arrives. Top variants will get 17-inch alloy wheels while the lower ones will come with 16- or 15-inch wheels, depending on the variant. The new car also gets 351 litres of boot space, which is up by around 70 litres over the outgoing i20.
Here’s how the new Hyundai i20 compares to the current model in terms of dimensions:
New Hyundai i20 interior
Coming to the interior, the company has released a sketch that gives us a glimpse of what to expect from the new i20’s cabin. The new i20 will feature a four-spoke leather wrapped steering wheel that looks quite similar to the one on the new India-spec 2020 Creta SUV, which was shown recently at the Auto Expo. It will feature brushed-aluminium inserts and buttons for Bluetooth telephony, cruise control and other functions. The overall interior theme looks quite sculpted, with multiple layers and horizontal blades that run across the dashboard – a design trend that was first seen on the pre-facelift Audi Q7. A huge free-standing 10.25 inch touchscreen takes centre stage, followed by a full-digital instrument cluster. Both these features are also expected to be seen on the new Creta SUV for India. Lower variants are expected to come with an 8.0-inch infotainment screen. A key point to note here is that the screen has been positioned directly at the driver’s eyeline, similar to what we see in the Kia Seltos and a few other SUVs. The sketch also confirms that the new i20 will have ambient interior lighting. The centre console design is simple, yet functional and gets multiple USB slots and a dedicated enclosure for wireless charging. Higher variants will get multi-contoured seats with contrast stitching as well.
New Hyundai i20 features and safety
As far as infotainment features go, the new 2020 Hyundai i20 will feature wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Hyundai’s Blue Link connected-vehicle tech, and a seven-speaker Bose premium sound system.
Globally, the safety kit on the new i20 will include satellite-navigation based adaptive cruise control that increases or decreases vehicle speed, depending on corners or straight roads. It will also come with an intelligent speed limiter, lane following assistance, parking collision avoidance system, forward collision warning with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind spot collision avoidance system, rear cross-traffic alert and even tech to tell you if the vehicle in front of you has moved and you haven’t In slow-moving traffic.
New Hyundai i20 engine details
Under the hood, As reported by us earlier, the new i20 will come with a 120hp 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and will feature a 48V mild-hybrid system as well, which, according to the manufacturer, provides a 3-4 percent efficiency boost. This engine will be available with either a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
Hyundai further claims that the new i20 1.0 turbo-petrol does 0-100kph in 10.2sec when equipped with the 6-speed manual gearbox and is one-tenth slower when equipped with the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Additionally, the same engine will also come with a lower-spec (99hp) tune with the same gearbox options but will not get mild-hybrid tech. A base 84hp 1.2-litre petrol will be the entry-level engine for the new i20’s petrol range. This engine, equipped with a 5-speed manual gearbox, does the 0-100kph sprint in 13.1sec, according to Hyundai.
As far as diesels go, Hyundai may not offer a diesel-powered i20 internationally, but for India, the model will most likely come with a 1.5-litre BS6-compliant diesel engine that will churn out about 90hp.
New Hyundai i20 India launch plan and competition check
Hyundai has been testing the new i20 in India for almost a year. It will see a market introduction around mid-2020, just before the start of the festive season. The new Hyundai i20 will see stiff competition from the likes of the recently launched Tata Altroz, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and the Toyota Glanza, along with refreshed BS6-compliant version of the Honda Jazz, which is also slated to launch in a few months.
Apart from the new i20, Hyundai India will have another big market launch this year in the form of the second-gen Creta SUV, which will see a price announcement on March 17, 2020.
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