South Korean Giant aims to emerge as the Samsung of mobility in India. | Car Dealer Tracker: Car Dealers Review & Rating site | Share your Experiences here

South Korean Giant aims to emerge as the Samsung of mobility in India.

Where will Hyundai be over the next 20 years. Possibly the new leader of commuting and mobility in India.

Emulating the complete domination of Samsung and LG, its country peers and leaders of India's white goods market, it aims to overshadow its all competitors with technological superior new range of mobility solutions for the Indian landscape.

Going back to its successful history the local subsidiary, Hyundai Motor India has emerged as India's largest exporter in the 20-year existence, and second only to the dominant Maruti Suzuki; the Indo-Japanese carmaker that corners half of the 32-lakh strong passenger car market. With a little over 16% share, Hyundai India has to cover much distance, but in the current scenario it's the only formidable force to shatter Maruti citadel.

For the next two-decade, its management team has clearly spelt out 'market leadership' as the foremost strategy. This should rattle Maruti Suzuki and comeback aspirant Tata Motor which Hyundai had displaced in 2009-10 for the second slot. Now its dream of toppling ‘The Leader’ has to be taken seriously. 

There is no doubt that it makes technologically superior products to Maruti Suzuki and the like of Tata Motors or ever much bigger global rivals like Honda Motor or Toyota in the mainstay compact segment. So, it stands a chance to gain the critical footprint in urban markets, while keeping its rural headway intact as costs will only dip further from its depreciated plants and machinery.

Hyundai will benefit immensely with the entry of the sister subsidiary Kia Motor as both will compete and complement each other with the larger target to scale the walls of leadership against Maruti. Kia plans to roll out cars next year and is being waited with bated breath on the back of its immaculate designed cars that are creating ripples across global markets.

 

Hyundai's clear advantage of crisper designs, superior technology has given it the edge and improvements in its Chennai plant will take care of the much needed additional capacity. The Korean-duo will be able to roll out more than a million cars by next year.

Its Managing Director Y K Koo says that they are gearing up to produce a 7.5 lakh cars from India soon, without putting a new plant by optimising its Chennai facility. "We are streamlining our operations to raise our capacity to emerge as sizeable player in the domestic market. So, the next 20-years are for pure qualitative work to become clear leaders in this fascinating market."

The South Korean car maker will debut 8-new cars in the Indian market including the current rage SUV, with a sub-compact in the making will be available in the fossil fuels of petrol-diesel tango along with a new range of electric propulsions.

 

The new sub-4 meter SUV from Hyundai is likely to be based on the Carlino concept and is currently in the testing stage. It is likely to hit the market in 2019, but, much before Santro the Tall-Boy compact which laid its solid foundation will be coming in a new avatar during the festive season. Hyundai entry into India in 1998 was marked with the innovative and fuel injected– Santro that changed the Indian Auto Industry forever. More than 1.85 million units of the Indian-manufactured Santro were sold worldwide.

As the company will bombard the market with eight-new products across hatchbacks, sedans and SUVs, it will be in a greater position to counter competition in India with nimbler products catering to local customer demands. "We are bringing some new delight to the Indian market and will be looking at a newly designed hatchback for Indian customer. It will meet the aspiration of the Indian customers of sharper design and the latest in technology. Our electric SUV will hit the market in second half of 2019 and will debut in 15 cities in India," Mr Koo added.

As a new chapter into its existence, the parent Hyundai Motor Company has transformed Hyundai Motor India into 'Regional Headquarter' - along with North America and Europe in respective regions - rendering created autonomy and power to respond swiftly to rapidly evolving local market trends and customers’ needs. So now as a regional headquarter, Hyundai India greater autonomy into core operations of planning, finance, products and customer experience will help it emerge as a regional sphere of eminence.

Its local R&D centre in Hyderabad will be complementing steady support to Namyang global R&D center and equip the Hyundai's local plant to churn out India specific products adaptive to local terrain and conditions.

It cannot challenge Maruti without expanding network across India, especially in the Tier II & III segments beyond its current 1309 service points and 495 dealership network across the country. A new mix of digital and brick&mortar dealership channel will be developed to sell urban-rural centric crossovers and hatchbacks to enhance its reputation as a wholesome carmaker for the rapidly transforming Indian market.