Hyundai achieved the 4 million milestone having commenced operations in India 19 years ago with products like the Grand i10, i20 and Creta being major contributors.
Hyundai started its operations in India 19 years ago in a significantly smaller yet growing auto market. Since then, the Indian auto sector has grown by leaps and bounds and reaping its efforts today, the Korean manufacturer announced the milestone of selling four million vehicles in the country. Having started its operations with the humble Santro, the automaker’s recent slew of launches including the Grand i10, Xcent, Elite i20, i20 Active and Creta have proactively contributed towards achieving the sales figure. In addition, the Elite i20 and Creta created new records of their own.
Consolidating its position in the premium hatchback segment, the Hyundai Elite i20 has managed to sell over 1,50,000 units since its launch in August 2014. Despite new competition, the Elite i20 has been able to maintain the pole position and currently commands 66 percent of market share in the premium hatchback segment. The Elite i20 has also turned out to be Hyundai’s best selling model ever in the country averaging around 11,000 units every month (Elite i20 + i20 Active) and the number isn’t expected to go down anytime soon.
Hyundai’s more recent launch the Creta arrived in July this year and has received an overwhelming response, recording over 70,000 bookings and 3,40,000 enquiries in India and over 15,770 orders globally. Just to give you perspective, the compact SUV recorded almost four times more bookings in India than the total number of units sold overseas in multiple countries. The automaker is currently averaging a little over 7000 units every month due to production constraints but is looking to increase its monthly capacity to 10,000 units in order to meet the demand.
Apart from India, Hyundai retails the Creta in several other emerging markets including Latin America (Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Panama), Middle East (Oman, UAE and Saudi Arabia) and Africa (Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria). The company is scouting for new markets to retail the compact SUV while the model is also popular as the ix25 in China. Hyundai’s domestic portfolio currently comprises of 10 products with the models produced at the company’s Tamil Nadu facility that meets the domestic and export demands. The company has around 433 dealers and 1100 service points pan India, helping the Korean firm retain itself as the second most selling automaker in the country.
