The Santro’s success in the Indian market made Hyundai a household brand, the company won’t be using the Santro name on any of its future models, thereby sticking to its new naming nomenclature.
Hyundai India’s sales chart was slowly climbing up the gradient until the new era vehicles hit the market. Post the launch of vehicles like the Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta, the Chennai based Korean manufacturer has gained good market and is currently standing at 17.2% share in the passenger car segment. Though models like the Eon and Verna are not selling too well, the latest models did manage to bite off a huge chunk in the well established premium hatchback and compact SUV segments.
With investment of Rs. 1000 crores on each model and promising at least a launch per year till 2020, Hyundai is looking to increase its market share by 1% year on year. Not just new launches, the company is also planning to introduce new and refurbished models every year, therefore redefining the price value equation of ownership. Hyundai could implement this scheme in rural markets which primarily asks for low investment from the customer.
Last year, the rural market demand was accounting to 21% of total sales for Hyundai in the country. The Santro was the success mantra for Hyundai in India and also its first launch when it entered the country in the late 1990s. However the Korean manufacturer believes that the car is long gone and won’t be bringing back the Santro name.
Till date Hyundai has invested about $2.7 billion in India, with an annual production capacity of 6.8 lakh vehicles (for both domestic and overseas markets) from its Chennai plant. Hyundai is also the country’s largest exporter of passenger cars with a 25.4% share in exports. With such schemes already chalked out, Hyundai is set to gradually eat out market share of other manufacturers.
