Hyundai’s Hyderabad R&D centre next month

Hyundai Motor Company, the Korean carmaker, will start its Hyderabad research & development facility in September to cater to its future models and also those of its sister concern, Kia Motors.

H S Lheem, managing director, Hyundai Motor India, said, “We have invested $40 million in this facility and 210 Indian and 10 Korean engineers are working with us. This number will go up to 800-1,000 Indian engineers within five years.”

The company also plans to launch Santa Fe, its sports utility vehicle (SUV), by the end next year. “Santa Fe will be in completely knocked down (CKD) form with localisation of 30%. It is viable to get it as a CKD instead of a completely built unit (CBU) as the import duty is 60% while that on components is only 10%. From India we will look at components such as glass, seats, tyre etc,” Lheem said.

Hyundai is also developing an 800cc engine for its car which will be smaller than Santro. “The engine will be developed in Korea and the production will take place in India. This car will compete against WagonR.”

The launch, however, will take another couple of years, Lheem said. He did not divulge pricing details for both the SUV and the small car. For its i10 and i20 models, Hyundai is developing a diesel engine of 1.1-1.5 litre capacity in Korea and is awaiting an approval from the parent company. The engine will take 2-3 years to be developed, Lheem said.

Also, the company plans to raise its sales in the overseas market this year.