Hyundai’s strategy of offering value proposition under ‘Modern Premium’ tag in its models seems to be paying dividends.
Under its new fluidic design theme and modern features tag, the company has been rolling out variants packed with premium features. Two of its recent models – compact sedan Xcent, launched in March this year, and premium compact car Grand i10, rolled out in September 2013 - have been fetching good volumes despite depressing market conditions. Aided by strong response, Xcent, a compact sedan which carries a starting price of about Rs. 4.7 lakh, has become the4th largest selling car in India, pushing Maruti’s Wagon-R to the 5th position. For long, Maruti’s models such as Alto, Dzire, Swift and Wagon-R were occupying the top four positions in car sales. Hyundai’s Xcent sold 15,584 units in May when compared with 11,757 units of Wagon-R. Xcent is reported to have sold over 32,000 units since its launch.
Also, Hyundai Grandi10, another successful model with “modern premium” positioning, occupied the 6th position in May car sales table. It has been sustaining a monthly sales rate of about 9,000 units.
Rakesh Srivastava, Senior Vice-President -Sales and Marketing, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., said that the success of Xcent, Grand and Santa Fe had increased volumes for the company and created positive momentum.
Industry observers pointed out that buyers at the entry-level were the worst hit due to inflation and higher interest rate, among others, and still wary of making their first car purchases. However, there were growing customer preferences towards slightly premium products, they added.
