Hyundai showcased the Alcazar SUV last month. The SUV was supposed to launch in May 2021. However, the launch has now been pushed back to June 2021. This has been done because of the increase in the number of cases of coronavirus that our country faced. Due to this, many cities were once again in lockdown which forced Hyundai and many other manufacturers to postpone their launches.

The Alcazar is based on the Creta. It shares the same platform, some interior and somebody panels too. However, Hyundai has increased the wheelbase of the Alcazar by 150 mm when compared to Creta. This has been done to liberate more space for the third-row seats. This should also help in providing enough legroom to all the occupants. The wheelbase of Alcazar is 2,760 mm which is 19 mm longer than Tata Safari and 10 mm longer than the MG Hector.

The front fascia has been retweaked with a slightly different, more premium version of Hyundai’s grille. The LED headlamp units are the same as the regular Creta. There is a different front bumper with a faux skid plate. The fog lamp housing for the Alcazar is different from the Creta.

At the side, there are different precision-cut larger 18-inch alloy wheels and a much larger rear quarter window. The A, B, C and D pillars are painted in black to give a floating roof effect. You also a shark-fin antenna and side steps for easy ingress and egress.

The rear is where there are the most changes. It gets a different horizontal set of wrap-around LED tail lamps. The rear fog lamps are placed in the lower half of the bumper. There is a different more aggressive bumper with twin exhaust pipes. A chrome strip runs between the LED tail lamps on which ‘ALCAZAR’ is spelt out. Hyundai is also offering a rear wiper with a washer, a high mounted stop lamp and a rear spoiler.

Hyundai will offer the ALcazar with engine options. There will be a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The diesel engine has been sourced from Creta only but it has been slightly retuned to handle the additional weight. The petrol engine comes from the Elantra and the Tucson.

The diesel engine will put out 115 PS of max power and 250 Nm of peak torque. The petrol engine on other hand produces 159 PS of max power and 192 Nm of peak torque. Both the engines will be offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. Hyundai is claiming that the 2.0-litre petrol engine when mated to the manual gearbox would be able to hit 100 kmph in under 10 seconds which is quite impressive for such a large vehicle.

The interiors will also be a bit different. The basic layout of the cabin will be similar to the Creta. However, it will have a darker brown and black upholstery. Hyundai will offer the Alcazar as a 6-seater or a 7-seater SUV. The 6-seater version will come with captain seats with a dedicated centre console for the rear occupants which we will see for the first time in the segment.