Official – Hyundai Santa Fe on sale in India by October; Sonata YF by end 2010

It was a long time coming – Hyundai Motor India has finally disclosed that they will launch their luxury SUV Santa Fe* in October this year, bang in the middle of the festive season. Initially Hyundai brought in the Terracan followed by the Tucson and neither could create a name for themselves. Hyundai hopes to change all this with the Santa Fe. The big question that will decide its success is its price. Hyundai will initially launch the Santa Fe as a CBU (Completely built unit) which means the vehicle will command a premium. With so many options (and the Fortuner) around, can Hyundai pull it off this time?

Hit the jump for the Santa Fe’s price.

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Well, the Santa Fe is large and comes with a 2.2L diesel engine and is based on the Sonata platform. The 2.2L CRDi VGT produces 150bhp and should provide solid performance. Hyundai even sells an R-Line that produces 200bhp from the same engine. Should make an interesting option but India will get the normal one. Crucially, the Sante Fe will come with 7 seats and cost between Rs 22-24 lakhs. Hyundai’s premium offerings have met with limited success, if the sales of Sonata, Elantra, Tucson and Terracan are anything to go by. However, that might change as Hyundai are targeting the fast growing luxury segment in India. Next up is the brand new Sonata YF/i40 that will hit Indian shores by end 2010. As global demand for large SUVs is slowly drying up, emerging markets are welcoming them.

The Santa Fe will compete against the likes of Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Captiva, Ford Endeavour, Nissan X-trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, upcoming Skoda Yeti, Nissan Murano and the segment king, Toyota Fortuner. So the big question – Can the Santa Fe pull it off? Lets wait and watch we say.

*The Hyundai Santa Fe is named after the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[ET]