Pricing matters more than anything for Hyundai in this case!
The Venue is all set to enter the sub 4-metre SUV market on 21st May. It has come prepared to face its rivals with a plethora of features and a few segment firsts. But unlike most of Hyundai’s other cars, the Venue can become quite a confusion for Hyundai buyers in one main region – price!
The Venue marks Hyundai’s proper entry into the overpopulated and sought after segment of the sub 4-metre SUVs and looks to conquer it with pioneering technology.
The Creta, on the other hand, is one of Hyundai’s most successful cars launched in India. The car truly has created a niché for itself, as it manages to muster impressive sales numbers, even after multiple price hikes.
Cannibalisation can occur with the pricing of the Venue. The Creta and Venue are trying to impress almost the same set of buyers but at different price points. Both cars are trying to catch the eyes of urban buyers who want an easy-to-drive car that has SUV looks. When the pricing is too close, the buyers can get confused.
Another thing to note is that the Venue is going to come with a DCT gearbox, a turbo engine, and a segment first connected car system. This could make the top-end variants quite expensive. This is above the fact that Hyundai generally likes targeting the premium buyers of a segment, their pricing also suggests the same.
Tata did not face this problem with the Nexon and Harrier, as dimension wise, the Harrier is much bigger than the Nexon. The same can be said with the XUV300 and XUV500 from Mahindra, EcoSport and Endeavour from Ford.
Every car has a clear differentiator from its siblings in the same brand. The problem Hyundai could face with these two cars is that both cars are pretty equally matched in terms of features and the Creta is only slightly larger than the Venue by size. Also, the Venue looks sharper with a newer interior design, something the Creta has not updated much since 2015.
A similar situation can be observed between the Maruti Vitara Brezza and the S-Cross. Both cars have almost the same features and the same engine. Since the Brezza was priced cheaper due to it being sub 4-metre, the S-Cross was shadowed by the success of the Brezza. Mind you, the S-cross still does get good sales, but it’s quite less compared to its rival, the Creta.
The pricing of the Venue should be such that it’s competitive enough against its rivals but at the same time does not make the Creta look expensive. As one can guess, it’s not easy at all, considering how many features are similar between the two cars upfront. In fact, the Venue is better equipped than the Creta. Judging by the fact that the Venue has already gathered 2000+ bookings on its first day, it’s got good momentum.
Will this momentum cause the Creta’s success to slow down? Has Hyundai created competition of value-for-money within its own products? These questions only time can answer.
Hyundai Venue Vs Creta
– There will be a huge cannibalisation within the Hyundai siblings
– Venue is offering more features than the Creta and will be positioned under it
– Venue will affect the sales of Creta
