Hyundai has finally put a price on the car it has been teasing for weeks. The Hyundai Bayon is now on sale in India from ₹9,99,900 (ex-showroom), and it slots in between the compact Venue and the best-selling Creta. It is Hyundai’s first new midsize SUV nameplate in India since the Creta arrived in 2015, so this is not a small bet for the brand.
Hyundai calls the Bayon an “Intelligent Utility Vehicle”, which is marketing-speak for an SUV loaded with screens, software and safety tech. Strip away the slogans, though, and what you get is a 4.2-metre family SUV with a big boot, a proven petrol engine and a feature list that would have looked at home in a much pricier car a couple of years ago.
What’s under the bonnet
There is one engine for now: the familiar 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol that already does duty elsewhere in Hyundai’s line-up. It makes 115 PS and 143.8 Nm, and you can pair it with a 6-speed manual or Hyundai’s iVT automatic. Pick the iVT and you also get paddle shifters plus a “Dash Boost” mode that gives a short burst of extra shove for overtaking. Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes sit on a steering-mounted button. Hyundai says it has sold more than six lakh vehicles with this engine in India since 2020, so reliability should not keep anyone up at night.
There is no turbo-petrol and no diesel. Speaking at the launch, Hyundai Motor India MD and CEO Tarun Garg said the Bayon will be offered only with petrol and CNG, with no diesel or electric version planned, as reported by Business Standard.
Size, space and the screens
The numbers are sensible: 4,245 mm long, 1,810 mm wide, a 2,600 mm wheelbase and 205 mm of ground clearance, which is handy for broken roads and speed-breakers. The 505-litre boot is the headline figure for anyone who packs heavily for a road trip.
Inside, two curved 12.3-inch screens run across the dashboard, and Hyundai is pushing a new generative AI voice assistant built with Perplexity and SoundHound that can handle conversational requests such as restaurant suggestions, weather and sports updates. There are also more than 500 built-in voice commands in English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Hinglish. The rest of the kit list reads well too:
- Ventilated front seats and an 8-way electric driver’s seat
- Panoramic sunroof and ambient lighting
- Bose sound system, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
- Bluelink connected-car tech with three years’ complimentary subscription and over-the-air updates
- Two-step reclining rear seats with a 60:40 split
Safety, variants and colours
Every Bayon gets six airbags, electronic stability control, hill-start assist and tyre-pressure monitoring as standard – more than 35 safety features across the range, says Hyundai. The Bayon also offers a Level 2 ADAS suite with 23 functions, including smart cruise control with stop-and-go, a surround-view camera and a blind-spot view monitor. Hyundai says the platform is engineered for 5-star Indian safety standards; that is a design target, not a crash-test result yet.
There are 11 versions, from the HX2 to the HX10, with the iVT automatic available from the HX5 upward. Buyers can pick from 10 shades, including two matte finishes (Titanium Black Matte and Classy Blue Matte) and two dual-tone options with a black roof. Bookings run at Hyundai dealerships and on Hyundai’s website, and Hyundai will also export the Bayon to more than 50 markets.
How it stacks up
The Bayon walks into the most crowded showroom in India. According to Business Standard, its rivals include the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Victoris and the Tata Sierra and Curvv – not to mention Hyundai’s own Creta. Hyundai clearly expects the two to work as a pair: it is targeting at least 2.5 lakh combined sales of the Creta and Bayon in 2027, and Garg called that figure “a baseline”, not a limit.
The FHM take
A sub-₹10 lakh starting price for a midsize Hyundai with a 505-litre boot and six airbags as standard is a sharp opening move. The missing turbo engine will bother enthusiasts, and the AI assistant has to prove it is more than a party trick. But if you want Creta-sized practicality without a Creta-sized bill, the Bayon deserves a test drive before you sign for anything else.