Hyundai crosses one lakh export mark for 'i10'

NEW DELHI: Country's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor said on Wednesday that it has crossed the one lakh units mark in export of its latest hatchback 'i10' within seven months of first shipment.
    
"Since the time, the 'i10' made its European debut in Bologna, Italy, in December, 2007, the total export orders have reached the remarkable figure of 1,06,749 units from as many as 98 countries," the company said in a statement.
    
It is also planning to launch a new model of 'i10', powered by a 1.2 litre all aluminium engine, within the next two months. The new engine, under the code name 'Kappa', is being developed at the company's Chennai facility.
    
The current 'i10' model comes with a 66.7 bhp (brake horsepower) powered engine and is priced in the range of Rs 3.31 lakh to Rs 4.83 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
    
"We are extremely delighted as we reach the fastest one lakh unit export mark for the 'i10'. We always believed that the 'i10' is a world class car and can compete with all other global compact cars on even footing," HMIL Managing Director H S Lheem said.
    
The demand in the domestic market was also very strong with sales of over 65,000 units and to meet the expectations of both the markets, the company was trying hard to produce as many numbers of 'i10' as possible, he added.