Major upgrades for affordable Korean SUV

Hyundai has at last revealed its next-generation Venue small SUV overseas, as the affordable SUV faces challenges from Chinese rivals.

Revealed by Hyundai India, the next-gen Venue features sharper and boxier exterior styling, with a significant tech and design overhaul to its interior to match the rest of the brand’s range.

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Standard features are upgraded to include new full LED lighting, with a contemporary body-spanning light bar front and rear, with a new blacked-out grille pattern, contrast bumpers and a rear spoiler over the hatch, which makes it look like a miniature Ioniq 5 in profile.

Inside the Venue’s tech upgrade includes dual 12.3-inch curved multimedia screen and dash cluster panel. The car adopts a similar minimalistic dash design to the Kona, with a button-laden control panel, in-dash storage cubbies and a new steering wheel. It maintains the centre-console mounted shifter and doesn’t move to a stalk-mounted shifter like many other new Hyundais.

The centre console, which the brand dubs the “Coffee Table Console”, features dual cupholders and a phone slot with several minimalistic buttons for core functions, while the car scores a fully electronic handbrake, replacing the manual handbrake in the outgoing car.

A leather-trimmed console box also replaces the current soft plastic one, while more upmarket features include integrated rear sunshades, reclining rear seats, rear air vents, four-way power adjust for the driver’s seat and the option of two-tone leather interior trim.

Engine specs aren’t locked in for the city-sized crossover, with the Indian market set to score a 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol, 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine or a 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine. Manual options will exist for some variants, but aren’t likely for an Australian arrival.

The most likely engine for our market would be the 1.0-litre petrol turbo engine, which in the case of the Venue’s Kia Stonic relation produces 74kW/172Nm mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

The incoming new Kia Stonic will adopt an MHEV version of this engine across the range, trimming fuel consumption to help the brand comply with Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES) emissions laws.

The newly-revealed Venue is the Indian-built domestic model, while the current Venue sold in Australia is sourced from South Korea.

Hyundai’s Australian division said in a statement: “As with all new models we will review the business case and suitability for our market, but in this instance there are no plans to launch the India sourced Venue locally.”

It is as yet unclear whether a version of this car will be rolled-out to the Korean plant, or whether the nameplate will fork off in two different directions.

Despite its age, having been on sale in Australia since 2020, the current Venue is still selling well in a market of seemingly ever-increasing prices. It is up 17.9 per cent year-on-year, moving a respectable 6010 units until the end of September.

This ranks it in third position in the light SUV segment, placing behind the Toyota Yaris Cross and Mazda CX-3, but just ahead of its Kia Stonic relation.