Saar: The said safety features were missing in the Era and Magna trims of the otherwise sensible hatchback.

The Indian arm of the South Korean carmaker Hyundai will be launching the all-new Grand i10 sometime next year. However, it doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned with the current model. In a bid to improve the Grand i10’s overall package, the carmaker has now made dual airbags and ABS with EBD as standard across the range. The said safety features were earlier missing in the Era and Magna trims of the otherwise sensible hatchback. Inevitably, the asking price has gone up as well. While the Era (petrol) is now Rs 15,000 dearer than before, all the other Era and Magna variants are around Rs 16,000 more expensive.

From August 1 this year, Hyundai had increased the prices of the Grand i10 by up to 3 per cent. Later in the same month, the hatchback was available at discounted prices. Weird! Anyway, the increased focus on safety should mean that it will become easier for Hyundai to convince customers. Up until now customers who were in the market for a similarly priced hatchback and kept passenger safety as one of the important criteria chose the Maruti Suzuki Swift, which has been offering dual airbags and ABS with EBD across its range.

The Hyundai Grand i10 is available with petrol and diesel engines. The former is a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder mill that puts out 83PS/113Nm, whereas the latter is a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder motor with 75PS/190Nm on tap. Both engines are available with a 5-speed manual transmission. However, the petrol motor can also be had with a 4-speed automatic.

The Grand i10 will soon be joined by the all-new Hyundai AH2, which is likely to bring back the Santro moniker from the history books. The new small car will act as a replacement to the soon-to-be-axed Eon and will take on the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Tata Tiago and the Renault Kwid.