Similar to its predecessor i-10, the i-20 will be manufactured exclusively in India and exported to other countries. The i-20 model, which will come in many variants, is expected to be priced anywhere between Rs 5-6 lakh. The i-20 is likely to be equipped with an automatic gear box to facilitate convenient driving.

Both the i-10 and the i-20 models will be manufactured in HMIL's second plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai, set to be operational by January.

Once the new plant is operational, HMIL's overall manufacturing capacity of all its models would go up from the existing 300,000 units to 600,000 units per annum.

Out of the total capacity of 600,000 units, the company will manufacture around 200,000 i-10 cars.

Apart from the i-20, Hyundai would also launch the diesel variants of i-10 by 2010 and Santa Fe, its premium SUV, in April next year in India.

"At present we only have a petrol variant of i-10, but we hope to roll out the diesel variant by 2010. We will also launch Santa Fe, a fully imported SUV from South Korea, in India in April or May next year. Santa Fe will be priced at around Rs 22 lakh," BS Jeong, senior general manager of HMIL said.

Hyundai, which has already sold over 15,000 units of the i-10 in India since its launch in November, is eyeing a sales volume of 200,000 in the next year, which includes the domestic as well as overseas market.

It has set a total sales target of 500,000 units across all its models for 2008, out of which around 230,000 units will be sold in India.