Shahrukh Khan has been the brand ambassador for the hugely popular Hyundai Santro and the Xing hatchbacks. In real life though, he was never really seen riding in one. All this changed recently, when the movie star had to dump his swanky set of wheels, and ride in the backseat of a Santro Xing. Well, it was West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Hyundai Santro, and when you have the CM of a state riding in the front seat, do you really have an option refusing the ride? So, what if it’s a Santro, and so what if you’re Shahrukh Khan. Here’s a video that shows how it all panned out.
Shahrukh Khan also happens to be the brand ambassador of West Bengal, where he even co-owns an IPL franchise called Kolkata Knight Riders. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee is known to live frugally. While her current ride is a humble Hyundai Santro Xing, her older ride was even humbler, a Maruti Zen 1.0. Shahrukh Khan, on the other hand, owns a fleet of luxury cars with BMW 7-Series saloons dominating garage space. The movie star is also known to gift expensive luxury cars.
The Santro and the Xing literally put Hyundai on India’s automotive map and made the South Korean brand a household name in the country. The tall-boy cars, launched as rivals to the Maruti WagonR, were best sellers of their time, and were known for reliability and low maintenance costs.
Hyundai sold cars with the Santro nameplate for over 15 years in India, before replacing the Santro Xing with the i10. The badge could make a comeback next year, when Hyundai launches a hatchback positioned between the entry-level Eon and the slightly more upmarket Grand i10. The new car, also said to feature a tall-boy design, is expected take on the likes of the Renault Kwid and the Tata Tiago.