MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2004
For Hyundai, focus on export pays
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
NEW DELHI: Riding on the growing acceptance among global buyers for made-in-India compact cars, Hyundai Motor India has driven home export earnings to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore in the first 8 months of 2004.
With its small car Santro Xing now being sourced by global majors like DaimlerChrysler, the company has projected to earn Rs 1,700 crore in exports this fiscal — a 55 per cent jump year-on-year.
"We have shipped over 20,000 units in the first four months of the 2004-05 fiscal itself," a senior company official said. During the April-July, Hyundai's exports grew over 200 per cent to 20,627 units while rival Maruti's exports have dropped over 7 per cent to 13,333 units, according to SIAM.
Surge in Hyundai's export demand has stemmed from its South Korean parent firm's decision to make Indian arm a sourcing hub for compact car Santro. Today, made-in-India Santros are shipped to countries like Greece, Germany, Italy.
But this surge in export demand, officials admit, did lead to a marginal dip in its market share in the domestic market.
"We had production contrants and were not able to meet the demand. These issues have now been resolved," the official added.
"An increasing number of car firms are making India the low cost production and sourcing hub for vehicles to be sold in European markets. Costs here are much lower than in Europe.
With Europeans also waking up to compact cars all over again, it's boom time for the Indian arms of manufacturers like Hyundai and Suzuki," an analyst said. Hyundai is preparing to launch its next offensive in compact car market with Getz.
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