Upcoming Hyundai Creta Facelift Spotted Testing

The current generation Creta went on sale in 2020. So, can we expect such a drastic redesign from Hyundai this soon₹To be honest, yes.

Hyundai seems to follow a 7-year timeline for a vehicle. During this 7-year period, the car gets a refresh, facelift or mid-life update at roughly the 3.5-year mark. For some models, this timeline is shorter at only 6 years. After this, the car undergoes a major overhaul, and we get what people in the automotive industry call, a generation change. For Creta, we may witness an even more aggressive, 5-year lifecycle, and this facelift could serve as the mid-life refresh.

The Creta is very important to Hyundai. This 15-lakh-rupee car sells in enough numbers every month to challenge a mass-market Maruti Suzuki hatchback. More expensive cars also tend to have fatter profit margins. So, it becomes more important for the carmaker to make sure the potential buyers don’t think about its rivals.

To expect even a 5-year life for the India-spec Creta is not unreasonable at all. If you factor in the rapidly-growing competition in the Rs. 12 - 20 lakh SUV space, keeping the Creta fresh becomes a lot more important.

At one point, the Creta was the only SUV in its price band. Now, though, we have the next-bestseller, Kia Seltos, MG Hector, Tata Harrier, Tata Safari and Skoda Kushaq. There are also some cars in the pipeline like the Mahindra XUV700, a rumoured Maruti Suzuki Nexa SUV, MG Astor and Volkswagen Taigun.