Hyundai Philippines Should Bring in the Venue Small SUV

Hyundai’s smallest crossover to date, the Venue, made an appearance at the Singapore Motor Show last week. It’s a hopeful sign that the Korean carmaker will bring its most affordable crossover to more ASEAN markets, including (fingers crossed) the Philippines.

The Venue takes on the Hyundai SUV family look with its upright cascading grille and composite headlight design. It’s 129 millimeters shorter and 30 millimeters narrower than the Kona, yet thanks to its design, it has a larger-than-life appearance.

The Singapore market model, like its North American counterpart, gets Hyundai’s new Smartstream Gamma 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine. The 121-horsepower, 153 Nm of torque engine features Dual Port Fuel Injection (DPFI) and can be mated to either a 6-speed manual or Intelligent Variable Transmission (IVT) automatic.

The IVT is basically a CVT gearbox with a proprietary shift control strategy that enhances shift response by matching a gear ratio with engine operating conditions resulting in a number of benefits such as smoother engine operation and improved fuel efficiency.

For other markets though, the Venue gets a wider breadth of choices from a 83-horsepower 1.2-liter gasoline engine, a 90-horsepower 1.4-liter diesel, to even a 120 horsepower 1.0-liter turbocharged engine. These engines though are mated mostly to a manual gearbox, except for the 1.0-liter turbocharged motor which gets a 7-speed dual clutch option.

Inside, the Venue’s decidedly back-to-basics with a focus on space and utility. Compared to the Kona, the Venue doesn’t give up much in terms of interior volume: total space is just down 76 liters (62 liters for the passenger area) compared to its bigger brother. Convenience features include dual USB ports, a 3.5-inh TFT instrument cluster, a rear-view camera, leather wrapped steering wheel, and Bluetooth hands-free.

The Venue is assembled in Ulsan, South Korea and this increases the chance of the Philippine market getting it. Given the strong market reception towards the Kona, the Korean automaker could bring this in to go against the Ford EcoSport and even the new breed of affordable Chinese crossovers.