Hyundai Motor is all set to come up with a brand new SUV model next year. The Korean carmaker has revealed the name of the new compact SUV – Hyundai Bayon – a name inspired by city of Bayonne in France, which will enter the European market in the first half of 2021.
Hyundai has also announced that the new SUV will be the most affordable model among all the Hyundai SUVs available in the market currently. The Hyundai Bayon will join Hyundai’s European crossover lineup and join the Kona, Tucson, Nexo and Santa Fe models.
Since Hyundai Bayon is primarily intended for Europe, the company decided to name it after the European city of Bayonne in southwestern France. Situated between the Atlantic coast and the Pyrenees, this city attracts fans of outdoor activities such as sailing and hiking, in keeping with the character of the new model.
“Hyundai is strongly established in the European SUV market already, in terms of our model range as well as our sales success,” says Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, Vice President of Marketing and Product. “By launching a new, additional B-segment model as the entry point into our SUV line-up, we see a great opportunity to cover European customers’ demand even better and to increase our offering in a highly popular segment.”
Over the past 20 years, the company has frequently named its crossovers after interesting places around the world. And these are not only Tucson and Santa Fe cars, named after American cities in the states of Arizona and New Mexico, but also Kona, after a district on the island of Hawaii. The name of the innovative Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle also has geographic roots. Nexo is one of the largest cities on the popular Danish resort island of Bornholm.
The only thing visible in the photo shared by Hyundai is the boomerang-shaped tail lights of the new Bayon SUV. Though the carmaker has not revealed too many details about the new Bayon SUV yet, spy photos of the new SUV has already started to surface online. Going by the leaks, the design of the Bayon SUV appears to be influenced by the Hyundai i series vehicles, i30 to be more precise.
It is likely to get LED headlights similar to what can be seen on a Hyundai Kona SUV. More leaks reveal that the Bayon SUV may also get a digital instrument cluster, a touchscreen infotainment system and a four-spoke steering wheel.
It seems unlikely that Hyundai will consider the new Bayon SUV for India yet. Hyundai never decided to bring in the i30 model to India simply because it didn’t see too many takers. It also seems unlikely that Bayon SUV will come to India since Hyundai already has other successful offerings around its range, like the new i20 and Venue SUV. However, the official word is not out yet.
