What is it?

The SUV craze in India is seeing the emergence of a new battlefront, the three-row vehicle market. The segment already has some established players and now there’s a new one in the form of Hyundai who is entering this new battlefront with the Alcazar. We’ve already had a chance to get behind the wheel of a prototype and give you some of the details, but now Hyundai has officially unveiled the car and here is everything you need to know about it.

How is it on the outside?

The Hyundai Creta is an extremely successful product for the South Korean automaker and expanding it to include the third row is pretty much what has been done across the segment.

You get Creta’s low set headlamps with LED DRLs and a new premium chrome grille. The design of the fog lamps and the indicators are new and give the car a more family appeal as compared to the Creta.

Move over to the side and you can see the extended length of the Alcazar thanks to the design of the thick D-pillar, extended rear doors and heavily flared wheel arches. This is the first car in the Hyundai India range to sport 18-inch wheels and they come with this diamond-cut petal pattern. However, this is expected to be offered only on the top-spec models.

The rear profile of the Alcazar is quite different from that of the Creta. Where the latter gets teardrop-shaped lights, this one sports a more conventional rectangular design with a large chrome strip connecting both ends. There’s a faux bash plate element and rear spoiler as a part of the rear design elements for the Alcazar.

How is it on the inside?

Hyundai has fitted the Alcazar with a brown and black cabin and it will be offered in both six and seven-seat configurations across both engine options with similar layout and elements as compared to the Creta. There are a lot of familiar elements like the steering wheel, infotainment screen, dashboard and even the fully digital instrument cluster.

Move over to the second row and you can see that in the six-seat layout you get a full-size centre armrest with cup holders, seat back tray tables and AC vents. The seven-seat layout gets a bench with an integrated armrest but no seatback tables and is only available in the Prestige and Platinum trims across both fuel options.

The third-row seats fold flat and in the six-seat models, it can be accessed via one-touch tip and tumble function for the second row. Hyundai themselves have claimed that the third row is best suited to children/teenagers or adults only for short journeys. Hyundai has said that the Alcazar has a wheelbase of 2760mm which is 150mm more than the Creta and the highest in the segment.

What’s on the feature list?

The Hyundai Alcazar will be offered across three trim levels, Prestige, Platinum and Signature along with two engine and transmission options. There are six single tone colour schemes and two dual-tone colour schemes.

The feature list on the top-of-the-line Signature models includes climate control with rear vents, touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, eight-way power driver’s seat, drive modes, Bose sound system, panoramic sunroof, rear sunblinds, seat back tray tables ventilated seats for the first row, puddle lamps and 64 shade ambient lighting. In terms of safety, we expect the Alcazar to mirror the Creta and this means six airbags, ABS with EBD, hill start assist, stability programme as well as a tyre pressure monitoring system.

What about the engine and gearbox options?

The Hyundai Alcazar will be offered with both petrol and diesel power. The petrol engine will be Hyundai’s new third-generation 2.0-litre engine that produces 156bhp/191Nm and can be had with either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. Hyundai claims a 0-100kmph time of fewer than 10 seconds. This is the first car in the Indian market, from the Hyundai stable, to make use of this engine and it is expected to also make its way to the Elantra and Tucson. The diesel on the other hand is a Hyundai 1.5-litre unit producing 113bhp/250Nm and can also be had with a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic.

We’ve had a chance to drive the prototype

We recently had a chance to drive a pre-production prototype and you can watch the video of our first look review below.

Launch and competition

The Hyundai Alcazar will be launched in India on 18 June and will take on the likes of the Tata Safari, MG Hector Plus and the Mahindra XUV500. It is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 19 lakh.