Korean auto major Hyundai on Wednesday said it has received over 10,000 pre-bookings for its upcoming mass market sports utility vehicle Creta, which is all set to debut in India next week.

The company's Indian arm, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, has invested Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the development of the five-seater model. It will compete with the likes of Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault, Nissan, Ford and Tata Motors in the volume segment of SUVs.

"Creta has created immense excitement even before its launch with its bold and stylish looks.

“We are delighted to receive an overwhelming response with over 28,500 enquiries and 10,000 customers showing their interest to live the Creta life," HMIL Senior vice president -- sales and marketing, Rakesh Srivastava, said in a statement.

The SUV will herald a new chapter in Hyundai Motor India’s success story and will set a new benchmark in the SUV segment of India with it's unmatched capabilities, he added.

Hyundai Creta will compete with the offerings, including Ford Ecosport, Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra XUV500 and Tata Safari Storme, which are in a price range of Rs 675,000 to Rs 15.99 lakh (Rs 1.59 million).

With Creta, Hyundai is entering the full-fledged volume segment of SUVs.

As of now, Hyundai is present in the SUV segment in the premium category with Santa Fe and with sports-styled i20 Active.

The SUV segment has been growing in India since 2013 at an annual rate of 25 per cent but it has declined in the January-May period by about 6 per cent.

The Creta has been designed and developed in Korea, while HMIL engineers in Hyderabad and Chennai helped to customise it for the Indian conditions.

Photographs: First photo kind courtesy, indianautosblog; rest, kind courtesy motorbeam