Hyundai Motor Co.’s Eon and Verna small-size cars have been respectively named the “best cars of the year” in their segments in India, industry sources said Wednesday.

The Eon, Hyundai’s hatchback city car, has been named the micro-mini car of the year by the Overdrive automotive review program aired on CNBC-TV18, according to the sources.

The model made by South Korea’s largest carmaker features an 800cc engine, and was launched in the local market in October, with sales hitting 7,418 units last month. This makes it the second best-selling Hyundai car after the i10 city compact vehicle.

The sporty-looking hatchback equipped with a five-speed manual transmission can generate 56 horsepower and 7.66 kilogram-meters of torque.

Related to the car’s performance, Zigwheels, one of India’s largest automobile news provider, said the Eon may be slower than the bigger-engined Suzuki Alto, which sold 24,422 units in November, but it can hold its own in every other aspect.

Industry watchers, in addition, said that Hyundai’s new Verna has been tapped as the “Car of the Year” in the Car and Bike program on NDTV. The subcompact has also been awarded CNBC-TV18’s “Reader’s Choice of the Year” in India’s mid-size car category.

The Verna is the first car sold in India that uses Hyundai’s popular “Fluidic Sculpture” design concept, with an average of 4,000 vehicles sold per month since its debut in May. 

(Yonhap News)