Hyundai Santa Fe phased out in India

The Hyundai Santa Fe was introduced in India in 2011, with the present new generation model arriving in 2014.

Hyundai’s efforts at cracking the Rs. 20 lakh+ segment in India have never proved to be rewarding, after all. The Korean company, earlier had the Sonata in India over its span of three generations - but it never took off. Then, the Santa Fe was introduced, which gathered average response initially, but faded away gradually.

And so, like the Sonata, Hyundai India has decided to pull plug on the Santa Fe as well. The company’s official website has no sign of the big SUV anymore. The Santa Fe sold in India was the SUV’s second generation for India, and was the up to date with the global model. Hyundai, however, was pretty ambitious with Santa Fe’s pricing - with the base model starting well over Rs. 28 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi.

This made the Korean SUV lock horns with the likes of Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour - and Santa Fe’s underwhelming sale figures clearly state that the formula didn't quite work for Hyundai. The Santa Fe has always been a soft-roader - and while it is an extremely comfortable vehicle to drive, it has been proven that the Indian customer would much rather prefer the butch and heavy traits of its full-sized SUV rivals. Another nail in the coffin for Santa Fe was Hyundai’s own Tucson, launched in 2016 - whose sales began to cannibalise that of the former.

The Hyundai Santa Fe was powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine producing 194bhp of power and 421Nm of peak torque. The 2WD variant came with the option of a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission, while the 4WD model was only offered with a 6-speed automatic.