Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) has said that it was confident of adding ten new markets to its export map in 2010. At present, its cars are sent to 110 countries.
As part of an initiative to step up its overseas footprint, the company had already commenced exports to Australia with an initial consignment of 500 cars. It is hopeful of exporting to Australia around 15,000 cars annually.
The company, on Monday, flagged off a fresh export consignment of cars. In the process, it became the first car company in the country to export one million cars. It began its export quest in 1990 with an export of 20 cars to Nepal. It crossed the half-a-million car export-mark in March 2008. And, it has taken little under two years to ship out of India another half-a-million cars.
Addressing a press conference here to mark this milestone, H. W. Park, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said that in less than a decade HMIL had become a leading exporter of passenger cars with a market share of 66 per cent of the total car export from the country. In this context, he also said that HMIL had become the biggest operation of Hyundai Motor outside Korea.
Arvind Saxena, Director, said there had been a negative demand for cars in countries such as the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Russia. India and China were the only two countries that witnessed positive growths. In this context, he said the stimulus package announced by the UPA Government had helped the demand in India. He felt that the growth could slow down if the stimulus package was withdrawn. Mr. Saxena expected the demand to move into the positive trajectory in the developed countries. He, however, felt that the growth could only be in single digit. It would take a while for the growth to enter the double-digit phase, he added. HMIL's export performance should be viewed precisely against this global backdrop, the said.
In revenue terms, HMIL's exports comprised 35 per cent of car exports in 2006. This rose to 50 per cent in 2008 and stood at 48 per cent in 2009.
To a question, he said around 68 per cent of the company's exports was to Europe and comprised mainly i10 and i20 cars. Mr. Saxena said that HMIL too was working on a car, smaller than Santro. “This will not be possible this year,” he, however, added.
