Hyundai planning Tata Nano competitor

The Hyundai H800 India - a Tata Nano Competitor

Hyundai are certainly on a world domination quest and are making serious inroads in to the quality market in Europe. New cars like the Hyundai ix35 are bring serious competition to the VW Tiguan and the Ford Kuga, and next year’s Hyundai i40 is going to give Ford a few sleepless nights over the impact oin Mondeo sales. Maybe that’s part of the reason for the Ford price cuts just announced.

But it’s not just the quality market in Europe and the US that Hyundai are chasing – they want the volume market too. And one way to go for the volume market in a big way is to come up with a rival for the Tata Nano, the car that’s getting India in to four wheels in a big way with a starting price of just £1,750.

According to Indian Autos Blog, Hyundai in India are working on an entry level Hyundai to take on the Nano, pitched at around the 2 Lakh mark (a Lakh is 100,000 Rupess and converts to around £3,000). Not as cheap as the Nano’s starting point but cheap enough to take a sizeable chunk of the market if it offers enough.

Hyundai aren’t saying anything officially – and the picture at the top is a rendering from IAB – but the project certainly makes sense. It’s claimed that the Hyundai will be powered by an 800cc petrol engine and that prototypes will be out and about by the summer. It even has a name – The Hyundai H800.

Speculation, yes. But we buy it.

By Cars UK