Hyundai drives i10 out of India

Grand i10 remains its best-selling vehicle

The first avatar of the i10, one of the most popular of small vehicles from Korean car maker Hyundai, would have completed 10 years this October. It will now not happen.

Hyundai, second biggest car maker in this country, has decided to stop producing the hatchback. The brand, however, survives in the Grand i10, launched as an upgraded replacement in September 2013. Since then, the company has sold almost 430,000 units of the Grand in India and exported 162,000.

However, the Grand has a long way to go as it gets into the shoes of the i10. Hyundai's India operations have sold 1.69 million units of the i10 in domestic and export markets. Only a year after its launch, the i10 bagged the Indian Car of the Year Award in 2008 and since won several other accolades.

When the Grand i10 was launched, it was supposed to replace the i10. Globally, the Grand is known as i10. However, the company decided to continue producing the i10 in India as there was demand and named the upgraded variant as Grand i10.

However, volumes have been slipping in recent months. In the first 10 months of FY17, Hyundai sold 14,389 units of the i10, 38 per cent less than in the corresponding period of FY16. The Grand posted a significantly higher number, of 120,821 units, growing 12 per cent from the first 10 months of FY16. Today, the Grand is the most sold brand of Hyundai in India, accounting for 28 per cent of sales.

Last month, the company launched a refreshed variant of the Grand, with better fuel efficiency, exterior styling and infotainment features.

Hyundai's current position and popularity in the Indian market, where it now holds 17 per cent share, owes a lot to the i10 brand. In FY10, volumes of i10 in the domestic market surpassed that of the Santro, its earlier popular model, and it emerged as the largest selling model that year. Backed by Hyundai's strong sales and service network, the i10 was among the most sold entry-level hatchbacks, competing with the WagonR (Maruti Suzuki), Brio (Honda) and Figo (Ford).