Hyundai eyes 8 p.c. sales growth in India

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) has stopped shipments to Europe from the Chennai plant, a move that will reduce exports from India by nearly 25 per cent and create capacity for domestic demand.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd, which on Monday launched the all new version of its premium compact car i20 -- Elite i20 -- priced between Rs 4.9 lakh and Rs 7.67 lakh, expects a growth of 8 per cent in sales this year driven by gradual turnaround in the automobile market.

India's largest car exporter also said in order to create capacity for domestic demand it has stopped shipments to Europe from the Chennai plant, a move that will reduce exports from India by nearly 25 per cent. The vehicle demand in the European market the continent is now met through production plants in Turkey and Czech Republic.

“This year our target for sales in domestic market is 4.10 lakh units. Last year, we had sold 3.8 lakh units in the domestic market,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Senior Vice President (Sales & Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava told reporters here.

He added the past few months have seen improvement in customer sentiment resulting in better cars sales.

Talking about the exports, he said last year HMIL's exports stood at 2.53 lakh units. However, with Europe now being serviced by South Korean car maker’s plants in Turkey and Czech Republic, exports from India will drop down to 1.90 lakh units.

Mr. Srivastava said HMIL will now focus on Latin America, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Asia besides the domestic market.

“It has been about a month that we have stopped serving Europe, which will now be served by Hyundai plants in Turkey and Czech Republic,” Mr. Srivastava said, adding the step was taken to create immediate capacity at the Chennai plant to serve the requirement of the Indian market. HMIL's capacity utilisation of the Chennai plant was 98.5 per cent last year.

Talking about the newly launched Elite i20, which made its global debut on Monday, he said Rs 1,050 crore was spent of development of the vehicle and it will replace the existing i20 model.

The Elite i20 will be available in both petrol and diesel options. While the petrol version is priced between Rs 4.9 lakh and Rs 6.46 lakh, the diesel variants will be available for Rs 6.09 lakh to Rs 7.67 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

“We were selling around 3,800 units of existing i20 per month and now with the new version we would be happy if we are able to sell around 6,000 units per month,” he added.