Hyundai waited until after Diwali to give us our first official look at the 2026 Hyundai Venue, but the wait was seemingly worth it. The Korean carmaker has today released first pictures and details of the second generation Venue ahead of its market launch on November 4. The first sub-four metre SUV from Hyundai, the Venue has ceded ground to newer rivals in recent months, but the new Venue aims to recover lost market share by addressing some of the outgoing model's biggest weaknesses. Hyundai has also opened bookings for the new Venue today, with the booking amount set at Rs 25,000.
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Front end bears more than a passing resemblance to the Creta N Line.
While the new Venue more or less retains the silhouette of the outgoing model, it puts its own spin on Hyundai's global SUV design language. The face of the new Venue bears more than a passing resemblance to the Creta N Line, with a full-width LED light bar flowing into the quad LED headlight housings.
New Venue features quad LED headlights.
The dark chrome finished grille sits above the chunky, silver-hued front bumper, and in profile, the new Venue appears longer and more muscular than the old Venue. It continues to ride on 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, and at the back, it retains a connected LED tail-light, but with a sharper look.
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Full-width light bar retained at the back to accentuate width of new Venue.
Those who may have thought this is only a reskinned version of the old Venue will be in for a pleasant surprise, as the new Venue is bigger than the outgoing model. At 1,665 mm in height, it is 48 mm taller, and at 1,800 mm in width, it is a full 30 mm wider as well. Its 2,520 mm wheelbase is also 20 mm longer than the outgoing Venue's. The change in dimensions is expected to help liberate more interior space, which would address one of the outgoing Venue's most notable limitations.
There's practically nothing that has been carried over inside the new Venue from the Gen 1 Venue. At a glance, you could easily mistake the Venue's cabin to belong to a bigger, more premium SUV. It has a fully new dashboard, a three-spoke steering wheel featuring four illuminated dots (as seen on Hyundai's EVs), and the centrepiece is the curved panoramic display, which clubs two 12.3-inch screens. This is a big departure from the old Venue, which employed an 8.0-inch touchscreen, and a part-digital instrument cluster.
All-new dashboard features physical buttons for in-vehicle functions.
Hyundai has opted for a dual-tone interior colour scheme, combining ‘dark navy’ & ‘dove grey’. The dash features two horizontal AC vents in the centre, and vertically-oriented vents at either end. What will be welcomed by most is the presence of physical buttons for nearly all in-car functions. Hyundai has cleverly scooped out a small shelf above the glovebox, which could be used to store odds and ends.
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Hyundai promises more rear leg room in the new Venue.
This time around, Hyundai has focused on a more comfortable rear seat experience for Venue customers, and to that end, it has added two-step reclining seats, rear window sunshades and rear AC vents. The company also claims there is better legroom at the back thanks to the increase in wheelbase, and the presence of a rear quarter glass – missing from the first-gen Venue – promises to offer a more airy cabin experience.
Curved panoramic display is one of the highlights of the new Venue.
Also visible in the pictures are features such as an electronic parking brake, regular-size electric sunroof, ventilated front seats, 360-degree cameras and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), but Hyundai is yet to elaborate on the full equipment list of the new Venue.
This is one department where the new Hyundai Venue is almost identical to its predecessor. All powertrains – including the 1.2-litre naturally-aspirated petrol, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol and 1.5-litre diesel – are being carried over, along with the same manual, automatic and dual-clutch automatic transmission options as before.
To retain the same engine and transmission set as outgoing Venue.
Hyundai is moving away from its S-based nomenclature with the new Venue. Instead, the company will go with an alpha-numeric naming structure bearing the ‘HX’ prefix, with HX denoting ‘Hyundai Experience’. In total, there will be seven petrol trims (HX2, HX4, HX5, HX6, HX6T, HX8, HX10) and four diesel trims (HX2, HX5, HX7, HX10). Exact variant-wise features and powertrain options are yet to be revealed at this time.
The new Venue will be the first Hyundai model to roll out of the company's Talegaon plant, and is expected to be priced competitively. The current-gen Venue's prices range from Rs 8.49 lakh to Rs 12.46 lakh (ex-showroom), and we expect the second-gen Venue to have a similar starting price (Rs 8.50 lakh), with the top-spec, automatic models likely to be priced at close to Rs 13 lakh.
The new Venue will go up against the likes of the Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Skoda Kylaq, and its own siblings, the Kia Sonet and Syros.
