Launched in May 2019, Hyundai Motor India’s first-ever compact SUV scales a new sales milestone. Part of the hotly contested sub-segment in India’s booming Indian utility vehicle market, the Venue is currently ranked eighth in the Top 20 chart. The new Venue, which is a year away from launch, will roll out of Hyundai's new Talegaon plant.
16 Nov 2024 | 8728 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Sixty-five months or a little below five-and-a-half years since Hyundai Motor India launched the Venue, the Korean carmaker’s first-ever compact SUV has clocked a new wholesales milestone of 600,000 units in the domestic market. The Venue is the second highest-selling SUV model for the company after the Creta midsize SUV, ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
Sixty-five months or a little below five-and-a-half years since Hyundai Motor India launched the Venue, the Korean carmaker’s first-ever compact SUV has clocked a new wholesales milestone of 600,000 units in the domestic market. The Venue is the second highest-selling SUV model for the company after the Creta midsize SUV, which has 1.13 million units to its credit and counting.
The promise of the Venue was revealed in the first six months after launch when it clocked 50,000 sales. The 100,000 sales mark came up in 15 months, 200,000 in 25 months and 250,000 was crossed in 30 months. The Venue drove past the 300,000 milestone in April 2023, 36 months after launch. The sales run from 200,000 to 300,000 units and thereon to 400,000 units took an identical 11 months. The 500,000 or half-a-million milestone was surpassed in November 2023, 54 months after launch, which means the next 100,000 units to achieve the 600,000 sales landmark took 12 months.
The Hyundai Venue’s cumulative domestic market sales numbers (see data table below) reveals that the best 12-month performance was in FY2024 with 128,897 units, growing 8% YoY on FY2023’s 120,653 units. In the current fiscal year’s first seven months, the Venue has chalked up total wholesales of 67,422 units, down 12% YoY (April-October 2023: 76,956 units).
The Hyundai Venue received a new sibling in the form of the Hyundai Exter, which was launched in July 2023 and is currently the third best-selling SUV (49,065 units) for the company in the April-October 2024 period after the Creta (113,913 units) and the Venue.
The Venue is part of the most hotly contested sub-segment of the UV market: compact SUVs. This segment, which is populated by some high-selling models like the Tata Nexon, Tata Punch, Maruti Brezza, Mahindra XUV 3XO, Bolero Neo and the Kia Sonet, along with the Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger, has seen a flurry of new entrants in the Maruti Fronx and Jimny, Citroen C3, the Venue’s own sibling, the Exter, and the Toyota Taisor.
The Venue, currently sold in 26 variants (23 petrol and three diesel), is available with three engine options. There's a 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel. Gearbox options include a five-speed manual, six-speed iMT and seven-speed DCT for the petrol variants and a six-speed manual for the diesel Venue. Pricing for the compact SUV starts at Rs 948,000 for the base 1.2 petrol E MT variant and goes upwards to Rs 16.30 lakh for the top-end diesel 1.5 CRDi SX (O) MT variant (all prices, on-road Delhi).
In early September 2024, Hyundai heavily updated the Venue and Venue N Line with a new gearbox for the 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine as well as ADAS. This makes the Venue the first compact SUV in India to feature driver assistance systems. The Venue N is billed as the more driver-focussed alternative of the standard Venue.
In its quick commentary on the Venue, Autocar India says, “The Hyundai Venue is a jack of all trades. Spread across a wide price band and offered with multiple engine and transmission options, the Venue caters to a broad set of buyers. It’s very user-friendly; the engines are smooth and refined; controls are light and ergonomics are spot on. The interior is feature-packed and rear seat space has also improved over the pre-facelift version. The Venue might not be the toughest, the most spacious or the comfiest compact SUV, but it does reasonably well in most areas, and that makes it a formidable contender in its space.”
VENUE: HIGH ON THE FUEL EFFICIENCY FRONT
A fair portion of the Venue’s appeal goes to its fuel efficiency. Topping the list is the Venue 1.0 GDI with the 6-speed manual transmission that delivers 18.27 kilometres per litre. A close second is the 1.0 GDI with the 7-speed dual-clutch auto that has an ARAI-tested fuel economy figure of 18.15kpl. The Venue 1.2 petrol, available solely with a 5-speed manual gearbox, delivers a lower 17.52kpl. The Venue 1.4 diesel is rated for 24.2kpl.
In an effort to rev up sales of its first-ever compact SUV, Hyundai Motor India launched the Venue N Line in September 2022. The Venue N Line comes with a single powertrain – a 120hp, 172Nm, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine paired to the 7-speed DCT with paddle shifters. The cosmetic changes are really the talking point – N Line badging on the front bumper, revised front and rear bumpers with red accents on the lower section, red inserts on the roof rails and new 16-inch alloy wheel design with red front callipers.
In April 2023, in its safety update for the Venue, Creta and i20 hatchback, Hyundai Motor India fitted three-point seatbelts on all seats, along with adjustable headrests at the rear for all variants of the Venue.
NEXT-GEN VENUE TO ROLL OUT FROM TALEGAON PLANT
Hyundai Motor India has chalked out plans for the second-generation Venue, which will have the distinction of being the first model to roll out from the company’s Talegaon plant, which it acquired from General Motors India in 2023. Production for the next-gen Venue is slated to commence in October 2025. Slated for a global debut next year, the upcoming Venue was recently snapped testing.
The latest iteration of the Hyundai Venue, which will sport all-new styling, will likely carry over the existing platform and powertrain options albeit it will have a brand-new top hat akin to the new Creta (launched in January 2024)_ and new Alcazar (launched in September 2024). Expect the new Venue to get more feature and, importantly, maintain Hyundai’s presence in the diesel engine market within the booming compact SUV market.
Compact SUV segment, currently witnessing 25% YoY growth, accounted for 671,674 units or 50% of the total13,43,363 UVs sold in April-September 2024.
SMALL CAN ALSO BE BIG
When it comes to SUV sales in the Indian market, small is big. The compact SUV (models below 4,000mm length) market proves just that – in FY2024, a total of 12,55,224 compact SUVs were sold, a 25% YoY increase (FY2023: 10,05,066 units) and accounting for 50% of the record 2.5 million utility vehicles sold last fiscal.
That strong growth momentum for this sub-segment of the SUV industry continues in FY2025. The compact SUV segment, which accounted for 671,674 units or exactly 50% of the total 13,43,363 UVs sold in the April-September 2024 period, also lords over the Top 20 best-selling UVs in H1 FY2025 (see Top 20 UVs in H1 FY2025 data table below). Starting from the No. 1 model, the Tata Punch, there are all of nine models whose combined wholesales of 592,179 units make up the same ratio – 50% of the total 11,74,122 units these Top 20 models have sold in the first six months of FY2025.
The Venue, which was the eighth best-selling UV in India in FY2024 with 128,897 units, maintains the same rank in the first six months of FY2025 with 56,521 units.
Hyundai Motor India remains the firm No. 2 passenger vehicle OEM in India after Maruti Suzuki. Much of that credit goes to the Creta, Hyundai’s best-selling product and India's best-selling midsize SUV, as well as the Venue.
ALSO READ: CNG car and SUV sales jump 67% to highest level in October: 99,967 units
Electric cars and SUVs race to best-ever monthly sales of 10,500 units in festive October