Hyundai Motors, the world's sixth largest automaker, has ruled out Bangalore as a possible location for setting up its R&D centre as it finds land prices in the garden city exorbitant.

Hyundai Motors India managing director Heung Soo Lheem said the South Korean company had short-listed Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai for the proposed venture.

"Unfortunately in Bangalore -- in many of the areas � it's very much expensive," said Lheem when asked why Bangalore was not chosen, at the launch of the company's mid-sized car Verna in Bangalore, where it claims a market share of 27 per cent as against the all-India figure of around 18 per cent.

Company officials said now the race is between Hyderabad and Chennai, and a decision is expected soon. They said the R&D centre, to be located in a 15-acre plot, involved an investment of an estimated $40 million and employment generation in the region of 1,000 professionals.