Leading automaker Hyundai has plans to ramp up its production of the new Santro. Amid huge demand for the car, the company has also set a new target of selling about 10,000 cars per month. We had already reported to you earlier that the company has stopped bookings for the Santro. This was because of the more than expected bookings of the car, dragging the waiting periods to more than three months and even upto four months for some parts in India.
The new Santro also helped Hyundai to maintain good sales and profits during the festive season, during which the whole industry witnessed a slowdown this time around. Hyundai has received nearly 38,500 bookings for the new Santro within 40 days, which is quite a feat in itself. To let you know, the bookings had already touched a figure of nearly 15,000 even before the official launching happened. The launch, which took place on 23rd of October, 2018, marked the comeback of the name ‘Santro’ after 6 years.
The reasons for the Santro being such a hit can be attributed to its class leading features and interiors. The affordable starting price point of Rs. 3.89 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi) is also among the reasons. In fact, Hyundai has cleverly positioned its product less than what all of its rivals from Maruti cost. According to the company, the AMT variants account for nearly one-third of the total sales of the Santro. This in turn hints at the shift towards automatic gearbox equipped cars.
The Hyundai Santro gets powered by a 1.1-litre petrol engine that churns out 68 Bhp of power along with 99 Nm of torque. The engine comes mated to either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 5- speed AMT gearbox. The car returns an ARAI certified fuel efficiency figure of 20.3 km/l, which is decent if not the best in segment. There is also a CNG variant on offer which though is low on power but offers a great fuel economy of 30.48 km/kg.
The new Santro is already on its way to become the new king of its segment and has proved its mettle under just 1 month of its launch. It rivals the likes of Maruti Suzuki’s Wagon R, Celerio and the Tata Tiago among others. All these cars reported less than average sales after the launch of the new Santro despite big benefits and discount offers.
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