Hyundai Motor India Limited’s Managing Director Mr. Young Key Koo, at the commencement of the 20th Foundation Day celebrations of Hyundai Motor India announced Hyundai’s vision of attaining ‘market leadership position in the Indian automobile market’, ‘becoming the most beloved and trusted auto brand in India’, ‘a modern premium brand with products and services beyond customer expectations’ and ‘a great place to work’.
Exactly 20 years ago, HMIL, India’s second largest car manufacturer and largest exporter laid the foundation for its factory in India on 6th May, 1996 and began operations on September 1998 by commissioning its first integrated car manufacturing plant outside Korea in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. They became a trend setter from day 1 by introducing contemporary products based on advanced technology. The Iconic tallboy ‘Santro’ was the first car in India to be based on the MPFI engine as against the prevailing carburetor based engines favoured by competition.
Mr. YK Koo spoke about Hyundai’s vision to reach more customers by launching 2 new products every year, expanding its footprint across the country to offer the customer, products and services beyond their expectation. More GDSI & digital showrooms, automated workshops, introduction of ‘Experience Hyundai’ programmes for brand & product, sponsorships etc. are in the offing.
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yundai Motor India is all set to bring back the car that earned it a presence in the Indian market - the original tallboy Santro. According to vendor sources, the new Santro is currently under development in South Korea and will come to India in around two years. Sources say Hyundai management has decided to bring the iconic car back because of the positive customer interest in the brand two years after it was phased out. Hyundai dealers say customers still ask about the Santro and wonder why the car was phased out, leaving the tallboy space wide open for rivals.
Sources however say that the top management appreciates that the Santro continues to be a powerful brand in India despite the new models in the entry level category introduced by Hyundai and its rivals since the tallboy's phase out. The current new Santro project is under tight wraps as vendor sources said it was "too early to talk about".
The Santro was launched in India in September 1998. With its tallboy design and MPFI engine - a departure from the carburetor engines that were in vogue 20 years ago - it became a game-changer model for Hyundai in India. It had a glorious run selling 13.6 lakh units in the domestic market and another 5.35 lakh units in exports till it was phased out. The Santro clocked nearly 1.9 million units of lifetime sales in the domestic and export markets put together in its 16 year-run in India. Even when it was phased out end-2014, the Santro was selling around 2400-2500 units a month and clocked 14595 units in the first six months of 2014-15.
The Santro was the Indian avatar of what was globally known as the Hyundai Atos Prime. The Korean company replaced Atos Prime with the i10 in most markets across the world in 2007. In October 2011, the Hyundai Eon was launched in India in a similar price segment as the Santro Xing and in 2014 the Grand i10 was launched. But the tallboy continued to sell alongside these newer avatars.
The entry-level tallboy model is once again creating a buzz with unconfirmed media reports claiming Maruti is reportedly mulling a tallboy avatar for its Alto. Hyundai for its part is getting aggressive with its product pipeline. It plans to launch the Tucson this year followed by a soft hybrid - which is less expensive than full hybrids - in 2017. In 2018 it will bring its AMT engine which will gradually be introduced in the entire model range. And in 2019 it plans to bring a sub-4 metre, 1000 cc compact SUV.
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