Hyundai hopes Elite i20 to drive up volumes, market share

Car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) is hoping to further beef up its market share with its new premium hatchback Elite i20 and will come out with a sports utility vehicle (SUV) at the appropriate time, a senior company official said Tuesday.

"We are growing by 13 percent. Our current market share is 23 percent. We expect the new car would enable us to build on this," Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president, marketing and sales, told reporters here.

Queried about the possibility of exports of Elite i20 Srivastava said the focus is on Latin American, New Zealand, Australia and Middle East markets.

According to him, shipping out cars is part of the business strategy and currently the ratio of exports to domestic sales is 40:60.

However, the company has stopped exports to Europe as that market is now being catered by its sister plant in Turkey.

Srivastava said HMIL has 10 brands at price points starting from around Rs.3,00,000 and going up to Rs.3 million.

When asked about the company's plans for a SUV, he said HMIL would come out with the model at appropriate time as it has the capability for the same.

The petrol version of the new model is priced in the range of around Rs.4.98 lakh and Rs.6.58 lakh. The diesel engine variants are priced around Rs.6.20 lakh and Rs.7.8 lakh, ex-showroom Chennai.

According to him, the new model has got around bookings for around 4,600 units.

He said the industry saw a prolonged decline for the past two-and-half years but HMIL was able to increase its market share.

"When the industry revives, we will be in a better position to gain further market share," he added.

Asked about HMIL's first model Santro he said: "The model logs around 2,600 units per month. This is much better than new models launched by competition. The Santro has good demand in north and western parts of India."

Srivastava said HMIL has stopped production of its model i20 that was logging a monthly sales of around 3,500 units.

Earlier addressing the gathering at the launch function, B.S. Seo, managing director and CEO said the company's sales volumes and market shares are increasing.

He said there is a strong export strategy for Elite i20.