The Koreans knew it would be impossible to rely only on Fluidic Sculpture. Releasing eye-catching vehicles is surely a great way to build its public, but an automaker needs more. In a world where people’s attention spans are getting worryingly smaller, a product can only attract for its design for some months, maybe one year. Sooner or later people will start to pay attention to the other characteristics, such as internal room and fuel efficiency, and the only way to keep selling well is to offer a truly good car. And this was precisely becoming i20’s failure: the outgoing hatchback was getting way behind its direct competitors in the past few years, in a way that not even the golden-eggs-goose design language could have helped for long.
Therefore, an all-new generation has arrived only two years after i20’s first facelift. Now it is time for the small hatchback to become the newest interpretation of Fluidic Sculpture 2.0, which basically means trading those big, stretched lights and hexagonal grille for a new look which seems as discreet as elegant. This hatchback, just like the latest i10, Sonata and Genesis, probably will not turn as many necks as it used to. But those who actually do it will spend much more time contemplating what it has to offer. Instead of complex light arrangements and too many creases, i20 features well-defined volumes, so as to look more imponent. It manages to look bigger than a Citroën C3 and still seem a little sportier than a Volkswagen Polo.
The sides became a nice expression of the fact that this vehicle was entirely designed in Europe – specifically, in Hyundai’s Russelsheim (Germany) styling studio. i20 looks less Korean than ever, thanks to elements such as more slanted “D” pillars, bigger doors and smoother contours. The only point in which Hyundai decided to stick to its recent past was painting the aforementioned columns in black: more than visually connecting side and rear glasses, it helps to create the impression of a “floating roof”, like that of Citroën DS3 and Fiat 500L. If you want to know how i20 would look like if it was released a couple of months earlier, look at HB20. This is its Brazilian bigger brother, which debuted with local production in 2012.
However, while the latter is always a matter of taste, the first might actually happen: Hyundai stretched i20 in all possible ways. The 2.75-m wheelbase is combined to a 4.03-m total length, enabling the car to “comfortably seat five adults”, according to the company. i20 is also expected to become best-in-class at the trunk, with 326 liters. Increasing the external dimensions was the only way the Koreans found to deliver so much space, even though it meant breaking a dimension which was thought impossible to reach by this category until not so many years ago. But if you are thinking it became too big, the Indian Hyundai is already a step ahead of you: their i20 will stay at 3.98 meters, in order to still use the local tax incentives.
Regarding the cabin, you can already expect i20 to reach its direct competitors’ level in pretty much everything: overall looks, comfort level, materials’ quality and safety equipments. After all, there are many customers which choose Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio in this category. So if Hyundai cannot compete with these in design and sportiness, the only solution was to fill all that space with items. The elegant appearance given by the two-tone coating (for both dashboard and seats) with a discreet, yet attractive dashboard is combined to LEDs for both front and rear lights, automatic climate control, multimedia audio system with a hard drive for user’s storage, reverse camera and a panoramic sunroof.
Hyundai i20 will have some differences between its European and Asian markets. Besides that size tweak, it will arrive at the first ones with more standard equipments and slightly retouched looks, probably including sportier bumpers. Other differences will include the powertrain: India will equip it with the Kappa 1.2L unit, so as to have 83 cv of power and 11.7 kgfm of torque with gasoline (it uses a five-speed manual gearbox), and with the CRDi 1.4L, which uses diesel and reaches 90 cv and 22.4 kgfm (and takes the gear count up by one). Europe, in turn, should receive a set of engines which carry turbocharger and start/stop system, in order to be more efficient. The new i20 will debut at this year’s Paris Auto Show.