Korean auto major, Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) rolled out its 5 millionth car from its manufacturing facility in Irrungattukottai near Chennai on 17 October. HMIL achieved this feat 15 years after launching the Santro in September 1998. The Chennai plant has capacity to manufacture 6.8 lakh cars annually. HMIL exported 38 per cent out of the 5 million vehicles it manufactured and has become India’s largest car exporter.
Commenting on the milestone, the Managing Director and CEO of HMIL, B S Seo, said, “The 5 million car roll-out is an important milestone and a symbol of Hyundai’s long-term commitment to the Indian market. As we reach this significant landmark, I would thank our valuable customers, founding partners, employees, dealers and suppliers for their support and commitment. We will continue to focus our efforts in the Indian automobile industry through investments and world-class products.”
Hyundai has managed to maintain its market share and growth despite the slowdown in the Indian economy. It has a market share of 20.3 per cent in the domestic market and 46 per cent share in the export market. Rakesh Srivastava, Senior VP and Head – Marketing and Sales, HMIL said, “Out of the 5 million cars we’ve produced and sold so
far, 3 million cars were sold in the domestic market and 2 million were exported.”
Hyundai has started making India specific model upgrades to better cater to the needs of the Indian buyer. This was witnessed with the company’s newest launch, the Grand i10. Mr Srivastava continued, “we have received a good response for the newly launched Grand i10 and the waiting period for the top variants goes upto two months.
We are planning to increase the production of it by 2000 in the coming months.” HMIL has also indicated that they have a flexibility to increase the production capacity from the current 680,000 to 700,000 per annum.
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