Hyundai Grand i10 Nios, Aura diesel models discontinued, Santro petrol models discontinued too
From now onwards, if your maximum budget is around Rs. 10 lakhs, on-road, and you want a diesel car, your options are limited to just 3 models as Hyundai has discontinued all the diesel variants of its Grand i10 Nios hatchback and Aura sedan.
All the petrol-only versions of the Santro entry-level hatchback have also been discontinued. You can only buy the Santro with the factory-fitted CNG now.
The diesel variants discontinued include the DSL Sportz, DSL Sportz AMT of the Grand i10 Nios and DSL S, DSL SX+ AMT of the Aura. Coming to the Santro, the discontinued variants include Era Exe, Magna, Sportz, Sportz AMT, and Asta. So, only the Sportz CNG is currently available for sale.
With this, if your budget is under Rs. 10 lakhs (on-road), you can choose either the Tata Altroz XE Diesel, or Hyundai i20 Magna 1.5 MT, or the Tata Nexon XE Diesel. Sadly, the choice is curtailed to just 3 cars now.
If you can stretch your on-road price budget to Rs. 15 lakhs, still, your limited choice now includes only the base diesel variants of the Honda Amaze, Kia Sonet, Manindra Bolero Neo, Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra XUV 300, Hyundai Venue, Honda WR-V, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Hyundai Verna, and Kia Carens.
Hyundai has reportedly pulled the plug on these crucial variants owing to low sales and the burden of manufacturing low-priced diesels when it can sell petrol models for the same price with some feature additions.
The lowering price difference between petrol and diesel in India could also be a factor in discontinuing diesel variants. Maruti Suzuki was the first to kickstart the no-diesel strategy with the unveiling of its ownership cost comparison graphs between diesel and petrol cars.
Now, the home-grown manufacturer has almost bridged the lost sales from its diesel cars with its fuel-efficient petrol models.
Finally, Hyundai discontinuing the Santro petrol variants is quite unexpected as the A-segment car is quite popular. Such a discontinuation will toughen the entry-level buyers the access get their hands on to a Hyundai branded car.