No one knew what to think when Hyundai claimed the rights for the vehicle name “Leonis” in spring 2018. Several South Korean media revealed today that the name belongs to an upcoming mini-SUV model based on the Hyundai i20.
As it turns out, the manufacturer had initially planned to build the Leonis on the Kia Picanto platform, but the latter couldn’t be easily “stretched” to crossover/SUV dimensions. This is why the company eventually settled on using the Hyundai i20 chassis, which – at least in its Active modification – already looks like the SUV material.
The new Hyundai Leonis will be manufactured and assembled in the manufacturer’s Gwangju works in South Korea. The company has invested half a billion US dollars in this new factory that can produce up to 1,000,000 vehicles annually and expects to finish its construction by 2020.
There is a delicate matter concerning the latter point, however. The city of Gwangju is also home to the KIA car factory, renowned as one of the world’s best industrial facilities in terms of quality assurance and control. Local trade unions are actively opposing the construction of the second factory, voicing concerns that this may hit the wages across the entire industrial sector. Looks like Hyundai is in for a long and hard period of negotiations…
But let’s get back to our Hyundai Leonis. The company says it will ship the vehicle to India, among other countries. This is hardly surprising, since SUVs that are less than 4 meters (13 ft) long are especially popular on the local market. On the other hand, the i20 is 4,035 mm (13.25 ft) long, which means the engineers are going to have to find a way to scale it down somehow.
The ultra-compact crossover/SUV will most likely get a 1.0-liter, 3-cyl. turbocharged engine with 120 hp (90 kW) and 172 Nm (128 lb·ft) of torque. It is also going to ship with a choice between DSG and manual transmission.
Photo: carblogindia.com