Does Hyundai Eon have it to beat competition in Maruti Alto, A-Star?

BANGLAORE: Hyundai Eon, the new small car launched by the Korean auto major on Thursday, has set the small-car segment in India on fire. With its attractive price, ranging between Rs 2.69 lakh and Rs 3.71 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the car seems to be pitted against other brands in this segment, namely Maruti's Alto and A-Star, Honda Brio, Chevrolet Spark and Tata Indica.

Sensing the competition, Maruti Suzuki recently introduced limited editions of its highest-selling brand Alto, under the new name Alto Xplore. It loaded the car with new features such as an advanced double-din stereo with USB and Bluetooth, new body graphics, outside rear view mirrors (ORVMs) and sporty roof spoiler.

Alto is priced between Rs 2.32 lakh and Rs 3.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and is the best selling car, averaging about 20,000 units a month.

The Alto, with 3.47 lakh cars sold last fiscal year, accounted for around 16% of all cars sold in India and is the top selling car model on the planet, having edged Volkswagen's Gol & Golf and Fiat's Punto. Hyundai aims to sell 1.5 lakh units of the Eon in a year, an ambitious target in a tepid car market and also given that the Alto took almost four years after launch to reach this level of unit sales.

Eon has been launched in six variants - D-Lite, D-Lite (O), Era, Magna, Magna (O) and Sportz. The top-end variant comes with features such as music system, driver airbag, central locking, air conditioning, power windows and power steering.

Hyundai has invested Rs 900 crore on the development and production facilities of the latest entrant in the small car segment.

Hyundai's most ambitious launch to date comes at a time Maruti has temporarily stopped Alto's production because of a longstanding labour issues, now running into its third month, and which has left the country's biggest carmaker dependent on a slender inventory to drive sales during the bumper festive period.