Today we want to share with you new pictures of Hyundai’s new small SUV thanks to our colleagues at AutoPost, who have caught it while testing drive close to Hyundai R&D Center in Namyang, South Korea. This new project, codenamed as AX1, is small SUV initially set for Indian market but could arrive to Europe as an entry SUV.
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Despite it is still unclear to know which brand this car belongs, let’s take a look to current Hyundai and Kia mini cars line-up. While Hyundai already launched a new generation of the i10 mini car, Kia also released a facelift for the Picanto. Kia also sells the Ray in South Korea, which is a sort of a key-car that is uncertain if will have a replacement.
But this car looks different, maybe too narrow for European market, for sure not for the US-market. So we think this small SUV could be Hyundai’s response to Kia Sonet, recently launched in India and small SUV clearly developed for BRIC markets. Also the codenamed (AX1) told us we are in front of a first generation car.
This AX1 is fully covered of camouflage, using canvas and sticker camouflager all together so it’s not visible in detail, but you can see the triangular grille pattern or the headlamps, which seem to be similar to recently launched SUVs like Venue or Kona. The small SUV size is similar to an i10 or Picanto, but it looks a little higher than these.
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As for the back view, the lamp is not lit, and it is difficult to check the detailed design because the camouflage film is covered with a sponge. Although you can’t see it well, it is assumed that the tail lamp has a horizontal design. If you look at the part marked by the arrow, there is a lamp on the bumper, but it looks like a turn signal or reversing light is applied to the bumper.
The one below it looks like a rear sensor. In the side view, you can see that the window is peculiar it has the rear door handle attached to that part. There are no information about the powertrain, but it is expected that this small SUV will use the 1.0L gasoline naturally aspirated engine with the possibility of having a 1.0L turbo as a more powerful and punchy option.
Reports from South Korea said that Hyundai will offer it in South Korea only as an EV. Currently Hyundai i10 and i20 also had their Indian-spec models so it is not unreasonable to think that this model could arrive to Europe with some tweaks.
What are yout thoughts about this tiny SUV?
