Hyundai launched the Venue a few months back and the sub-4 meter SUV is already on top of the sales charts of its segment. Rivalling the likes of several able rivals like the Tata Nexon, Mahindra XUV300, and the Ford Ecosport, the Venue usurped the top spot from the long-time segment sales leader Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza last month. As of now, the Venue is available with two petrol engines (1.0 litre, 1.2 litre) and one diesel engine option (1.4 litre). However, the Hyundai is planning to launch a more powerful diesel engine option for Venue next year. The current 1.4-litre diesel unit will be replaced by a 1.5-litre unit which has made its Indian debut with the Kia Seltos.
During the launch event of the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios, Hyundai confirmed that the existing 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre diesel engines will not continue in its lineup one the April 2020 BSVI deadline arrives. The reason behind this change is the upcoming BSVI emission norms which are basically the reason behind a lot of changes being made in the auto industry right now. The current 1.4-litre unit is not BSVI compliant and Hyundai has no plans to upgrade it to meet the emission norms. The new 1.5-litre diesel engine is BSVI compliant and obviously is more powerful than the 1.4-litre unit.
Speaking of which, the 1.4-litre diesel unit employed by Hyundai right now churns out 89 Bhp of power along with 220 Nm of torque. The 1.5-litre turbo diesel, on the other hand, produces 113 Bhp of power and 250 Nm of torque. Another point to be noted here is that Hyundai will not use the turbocharged version of this engine on the Venue. Instead, a naturally aspirated version will be used that will result in better fuel efficiency. Without the variable geometry turbo employed by this engine, power figures are expected to drop below 100 Bhp mark. However, there will be a marked increase in fuel efficiency which is pretty important in the Indian market. Also, the Venue weighs a lot less than the Seltos and hence the performance won’t be sluggish by any means.
To let you know, the same engine will also be used by the next-generation model of the i20 as well as the lower variants of the Creta and Verna. The next-gen Hyundai Creta will, in fact, share its engine and platform with the Kia Seltos. For those wondering when would Hyundai launch the 1.5-litre diesel variant, that is expected to happen during the first quarter of 2020. However, this will also result in a price bump and hence buying the current diesel engine may make more sense if you don’t plan to use the car for long.