Hyundai Alcazar teased – seven-seater SUV for India

Hyundai has released the first teaser sketches of the Alcazar, a seven-seater SUV for India. The car is due to make its debut soon and will enter a burgeoning market for mainstream three-row crossovers.

No details have been released just yet, but it’s expected that the car will be based on the five-seater Creta, also designed for the Indian market. The renders only show the rear three-quarter view, revealing the large trapezoidal taillights with C-shaped graphics.

The Alcazar also features a wraparound front and rear windscreen design, plus a distinctive black roof strip that leads into the C-pillars. Chunky front and rear fender flares, silver skid plates on the side and rear (and possibly on the front, too) and a significant amount of black body cladding add some ruggedness to the look.

The sole interior sketch shows what appears to be a six-seater version with individual second-row chairs, as well as a centre console with an armrests and two cupholders. The dashboard, on the other hand, seems to have been lifted from the Creta, with a waterfall-like centre console and vertical corner air vents.

Expect the Alcazar to share the Creta’s range of engines, which include a 115 PS 1.5 litre naturally-aspirated Smartstream G MPI four-cylinder petrol, a 140 PS 1.4 litre T-GDi turbo and a 115 PS 1.5 litre CRDi turbodiesel. Transmission options include six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes, a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and a CVT, depending on the engine.

The seven-seater SUV market in India is a little complicated at the moment. The Alcazar’s closest rival would’ve been the Honda BR-V, but that car was discontinued last year due to low sales and tightening emissions regulations. Right now, its competition are the MG Hector (a rebadged Baojun 530) and Tata Safari, which are quite a bit larger than the BR-V at around 4.6 metres long.

Perhaps the Alcazar could be a candidate for the ASEAN market, given that the Hyundai’s new plant in Indonesia is due to start production this year. There, the three-row B-segment crossover market is fierce and includes not only the BR-V but also the Toyota Rush and Mitsubishi Xpander.

On another note, it can’t be a coincidence that MG and Hyundai’s models are called Hector and Alcazar respectively. Anyone played Uncharted 4 recently?

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