The Well ‘Connected' SUV

The new Hyundai Venue is more than just another compact SUV. Blue Link, its standout feature, allows a host of key functions — including engine start, location tracking, speed, tyre pressure, remote lock, engine immobilization — to be monitored and controlled from a smartphone app.

- Pablo Chaterji

Whether you like it or not, this country is now one that is hyper-connected to the internet. By the end of this year, according to reports, the internet user base in India will be well over 600 million — just under 50 per cent of our population. Most people with a smartphone reach for it as soon as they wake up, eager to see how many more likes they've received on social media. On public transport, in malls, restaurants, airports, workspaces and homes, staring at a screen of some sort has become the new normal. The need to be constantly online is now almost as primal as the one for food — perhaps even more, who knows? In this scenario, it was only a matter of time before the always-on phenomenon made its way to cars — which brings us to the new Hyundai Venue.

In what is sure to be the start of a new trend, Hyundai is tom-tomming the connected features of the Venue more than the car's mechanical features (MG is doing the same with its initial offering, the Hector), in much the same way as smartphone firms now promote their products essentially as cameras with phones built into them. The Hyundai system is called Blue Link, which is a telematics and internet-based technology that operates via an embedded Idea Vodafone-SIM card. Controlled via a smartphone app, Blue Link puts a whole host of features at your disposal, in the areas of security, remote, safety, location-based services, vehicle relationship management, alert services and artificial intelligence.