Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Tuesday unveiled a new version of its mid-compact car ‘Santro.’
“The legend is back,” said Y.K. Koo, managing director and CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. “With the new Santro, we can compete in the modern stylish tallboy and mid-compact car segment,” he added.
The company was hoping to garner about 30% market share in the mid-compact segment, he added.
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Santro was the first car to roll out of its Sriperumbudur facility in September 1998. The company stopped the production of Santro in early 2015.
In the development stage, the new car was codenamed AH2. HMIL had sought feedback from the public to give it a suitable name. More than 66.6% of respondents called it ‘All New Santro’ for the modern tallboy car.
Positioned between the entry-level Eon and mid-high compact Grand i10, this new car would be premièred in New Delhi on October 23, he said. Plans were afoot to produce 1.20 lakh Santro cars in 2019. For the domestic market, it would produce 8,000 to 9,000 cars per month at its plant, he added.
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“Santro will be produced only in India. India will be the hub for Hyundai’s small cars and Santro. We will export 20,000 to 30,000 Santro cars next year. It will be exported to North America, West Asia, South Africa and other markets,” he said.
Production target
On the company’s overall production plan, HMIL this year would produce 5.50 lakh cars for domestic market and 1.60 lakh cars for exports, taking the total to 7.10 lakh. Next year, the company was hoping to sell 7.50 lakh cars, he added.
To get additional export volume, HMIL would ship kits in completely knocked down (CKD) condition. This year, the firm would ship out 50,000 CKD kits against 20,000 kits last year.
The new Santro will come in two variants — petrol and factory-fitted CNG — and in six colours. The new car is expected to improve HMIL’s market share by 0.5%-1% from 16% reported last year.
The booking for the new car can be done online starting from Wednesday till October 22, with an initial booking amount of ₹11,100 for the first 50,000 customers as introductory offer. The new car will come with a three-year/1,00,000 km warranty and three-year road side assistance.
The car, built on new platform, is equipped with a 4-cylinder 1.1 litre petrol engine, in-house developed smart auto AMT technology, 17.64 cm touchscreen audio video system and rear AC vents, among others.