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Hyundai mulls launch of 4 Korean models in India

Hyundai Motor India Limited is mulling to roll out automatic version of its mid-sized car Accent in the second quarter of this calendar year and has initiated a feasibility study on the project, company director (marketing and sales) B V R Subbu said on Thursday.

Besides, the company is also studying the feasibility of manufacturing four other vehicles from stables of the parent Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. The models include: the EF Sonata in the higher luxury segment, Kia Sportage in the sports vehicle category, Grandeur XG in the limousine variety and the Starex in both multi-utility vehicle and light commercial vehicle division.

Meanwhile, the company has put on backburner its earlier plans to conduct a study on semi-automatic version of the Santro, Subbu added. The company had earlier expressed its intention to commence the study in November 1999.

While the study on automatic Accent will take two weeks to complete, the others will take a bit longer. If the study favours production of automatic Accent, the vehicle will be produced by the second quarter of this year.

However, Subbu refused to specify dates for other models, stating that it is too premature to fix a time-frame for the purpose. ''In fact, market forces should decide the exact schedule for the models,'' he added.

The EF Sonata is powered with a 2.5 litre, V6 DOHC engine. The Kia Sportage is driven by a four cylinder turbo diesel 1998 cc engine. The Sportage was recently acquired by Hyundai in a global bidding from Kia Motors.

The Grandeur XG is a luxury sedan. The Starex is driven by a 2.6 litre diesel engine.

UNI

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