Hyundai may relaunch Elantra; Santa Fe to be launched in Oct

The country's second largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, today said it may relaunch premium sedan Elantra, which was phased out in 2007 due to dwindling sales, in the country.

Apart from this, the company will roll out its SUV Santa Fe in October this year which will carry a price tag between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 22 lakh a unit.

"We are reviewing the relaunch of our Elantra in the country which will be subject to the growth in the market size of the premium segment," company's Senior Director Y K Koo told reporters here today. However, Koo did not reveal about the likely timeframe of its relaunch.

"The market for premium segment in which Elantra fits in is just 3 per cent of total market size of cars in the country. But this market is growing," he said.

Hyundai phased out luxury sedan Elantra in 2007 in view of its low sales in the country. It was placed in the most competitive segment with other models including Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Skoda Octavia etc.

Asked about new launches, Koo said that the company is expecting to roll out its SUV Santa Fe in the second half of this year. "Santa Fe may be launched in the month of October and its price can be in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 22 lakh which will be very competitive," he said.

Koo further said that the company attained 31 per cent growth in sales during the period between January and May this year. "The whole auto industry grew by 27 per cent in January-May but we post growth of 31 per cent," he said.

Stating that the company infused a sum of Rs 70 crore in developing new 'Verna Transform', Koo said that the new launch would fuel the sales of Verna from 1,500 units per month to 2,000 units a month. The company has so far sold 82,000 units of Verna since its launch in September 2006.

On expanding its network, he said company would take the total strength of its dealers to 320 by this year end from 290 at present.

Currently, company's i10 model constitutes highest share of 40-50 per cent in its total sales. Hyundai achieved sales of 5.6 lakh units in 2009, out of which 2.7 lakh units were exported.