The company is also contemplating building a small car, which would be priced lower than its entry-level Santro whose base model retails at Rs2,70,000 ex-showroom Delhi.
CHENNAI: Hyundai Motor India, India’s second largest passenger car manufacturer, is looking to export half its production to markets like Western Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The company is also contemplating building a small car, which would be priced lower than its entry-level Santro whose base model retails at Rs2,70,000 ex-showroom Delhi.
“We are not thinking of competing with Nano (the small car recently showcased by Tata Motors) on price. We are studying the possibility of introducing a mass market car at a price point lower than Santro and could be sold globally.
We currently don’t have such a product in our portfolio and even if we do decide to launch, would take a 2-3 years to develop it,” said Arvind Saxena, senior vice president, marketing and sales.
The company said it has no plans to cut Santro’s price to compete with Nano, which is expected to retail at about Rs1.2 lakh.
The company said it is focussed on the small car market in India, which is about three-fourth the total car market. It is expanding its dealership network to 300 by end of 2008 from 230 currently.
On Saturday, Hyundai Motor inaugurated its second manufacturing plant here, which would double its capacity to 600,000 units annually.
The company has already invested $750 million in the second plant and would pump in an additional $250 million over the next 3 years. The second plant located adjacent to the company’s first plant is capable of rolling out four models at a time, would chiefly manufacture i10 and Santro for the global market.
The engine plant, capable of manufacturing 300,000 units per annum, would be commissioned in a few months, president Ashok Jha said.
Hyundai Motor India is the largest manufacturing base for Hyundai Motor Co outside Korea. It would retain this position till Hyundai’s 1 million unit capacity comes onstream in China in the next 12-18 months.
Hyundai is also expanding its engineering centre in India. It is investing $40 million in setting up a new facility in Hyderabad where engineers would work on vehicle design as well as customisation of vehicles for India. It would quadruple the number of engineers to 1,000 by the turn of the decade.
Hyundai Motor India is the manufacturing base the parent’s small car. It plans to export 120,000 i10s and 35,000-40,000 Santros this year. Meanwhile, some employees, who were demanding formation of a union, were detained by the police.
g_rabin@dnaindia.net
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