Hyundai India has announced that its most anticipated offering, the Hyundai Exter micro-SUV, will come standard with a total of six airbags. This news comes in advance of the vehicle’s launch. This will make the Exter – which will slot in beneath the Location in Hyundai’s SUV line-up – the initial sub-four-meter SUV on the market to have 6 airbags as component of its regular safety equipment across all variants. The Exter will slot in beneath the Location in Hyundai’s SUV line-up. Notably, this will take place a number of months before the date that the government has set for all passenger motor vehicles sold in India to be equipped with six airbags as standard. This deadline is now set for October 1, 2023.

Hyundai has also confirmed that other very important safety options, such as digital security control (ESC), Hill Guide Control (HAC), and Auto Stability Administration (VSM), will be available on all variants of the vehicle, with the exception of the entry-level E and S trims, on which they will be supplied as optional extras.

Larger iterations of the Exter will come equipped with a dashcam that has two cameras.

Other important features that will be available on the Exter include automatic headlights with a ‘escort’ function, a reverse camera, anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brake distribution (EBD), multiple-point seat belts and belt reminders for all passengers, and rear parking sensors. Larger iterations of the Exter will have a dashcam (with dual cameras), a tyre stress monitoring system (Highline), and a burglar alarm system as standard equipment.

The Exter, which will go on the extremely hot-advertising Tata Punch, utilises what Hyundai phone calls the ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ worldwide design language. Its codename is ‘Ai3,’ and it was formerly known as ‘Ai3’. The Exter has a boxy profile, but it also adds a number of interesting design aspects to the table.

It is anticipated that the Exter will be centred on an existing platform for a Hyundai motor vehicle that is smaller than the Punch, and it will be closer in size to the Punch. The Exter will initially only be offered with a single petrol engine option, which will be the naturally aspirated 1.2-liter unit that can be found in a range of different compact Hyundai vehicles. In addition to the S and SX trim levels, there will be a CNG variant available.

Both a manual gearbox with five gears and an automatic gearbox will be standard on the Exter.

In addition to a manual gearbox with five different gear ratios, the 1.2-liter petrol version of the Exter will also be offered with an automatic manual gearbox (AMT). The CNG version of the Exter, on the other hand, will not be available with any other gearbox but the manual one.

It is anticipated that the Hyundai Exter would have a price range of between Rs 6 lakh to Rs 11 lakh (ex-showroom) when it finally makes its way into dealerships in the coming months. The Punch is a design that has enabled Tata Motors to apply tremendous and continuing pressure on the Korean carmaker for the No. 2 spot on the statistics. The Exter will be an important addition to Hyundai’s inventory because it will compete directly with the Punch.