Besieged by rising steel prices, the domestic passenger car manufacturers are gearing up to raise prices again. Barely a month ago, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Honda Siel had effected price increases of Rs 6,000 to Rs 30,000 across models.
Hyundai Motor India, the country's second-largest passenger car manufacturer, may introduce more luxury cars in India, president Ashok Jha told Business Standard at the launch of the compact car, the i10, in Pune.
The export of the cars would commence next year, M Inderjith, vice-president (productions), Hyundai Motor India Ltd, said speaking at the launch of 'i10' in Coimbatore on Monday night. i10 recently made its world debut in New Delhi. India would be the sole production and export hub of the car.
Hyundai Motor India will be raising prices of its cars, including the popular Santro, by up to Rs 15,000.
Hyundai Motors India Ltd, the second-largest car manufacturer in the country, has announced a special scheme targeted at women buyers across India offering attractive loan packages.
Hyundai Motor India Limited head H S Lheem will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to discuss issues concerning HMIL, which is the single largest Korean investor in India
Hyundai Motor India on Thursday said it has crossed the half-a-million mark in cumulative exports, with the loading of its latest product the i10 at the Chennai port. The company reached the first milestone of exporting 1,00,000 cars in four years and 10 months that ended in October 2004. In October 2005, it exported its 200,000th car, followed by 300,000th car and 400,000th car in October 2006 and August 2007 respectively. Hyundai India is targeting 530,000 units this year.
"HMIL started accepting export orders for the i10 from December, 2007, and received 60,000 orders from the overseas market creating a record of clocking the fastest 50,000 units of export orders in just three months," the company said. The company would ship around 26,000 units by March 2008, and subsequently it would be exported to all the major markets across the globe covering over 90 countries by the end of the year, it added.
Owing to the poor market conditions and tepid sentiments, the size of the show has shrunk compared to the last edition, which took place in 2018. A majority of the two-wheeler makers, and several car and commercial vehicle makers, have opted out of this year's show, which opens for the media on Wednesday.
The CNG Santro (XK, non-AC) has been priced at Rs 325,361 (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Prices of its other variants of CNG Santro were not immediately known.
The Korean automaker plans to boost production in both fast-growing markets with new plants, and fresh models for local and export consumption
Hyundai Motor on Wednesday sought New Delhi's support to make India an export hub for small cars, while expressing interest to bid for a $500 million Delhi Metro contract for supply rolling stock. \n
Market leader Maruti registers a growth of 19% in 2007.
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.
Hyundai Motor India said on Tuesday it will hike prices of its cars across all models between 2.3 per cent by January 2008 owing to rising input and freight costs. The official said the price rise was due to the rising input costs and freight cost. HMIL's product range starts from the flagship Santro, the base model of which is priced at Rs 2,70,000, while its top end Sonata Embera is priced at Rs 15,71,000.
South Korean car giant Hyundai Motors has been asked by the National Consumer Commission to pay Rs 6.8 lakh to a consumer for supplying a defective Accent car. Ruling that it is the duty of the car manufacturers to replace defective vehicles, the Commission said that in such cases, the companies are "not justified" in protracting litigation for years merely because they have money power.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday reported a 11.8 per cent increase in wholesales to 164,469 units in February. The company had sold 147,110 units in February last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. Domestic sales increased 11.8 per cent to 1,52,983 units last month, as against 1,36,849 units in February 2020, it added.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd plans to set up a research and development centre in Hyderabad.
Car companies have responded to the high interest rates on consumer loans by offering attractive packages to woo back customers.
Hyundai Motors India hopes to export over 250,000 cars next year from India, twice this year's number. Yet, Managing Director H S Lheem said this performance will not be without its problems. In fact, ebullient exports may end up denting the company's bottom line.
HMIL president Ashok Jha did not rule out the possibility of research on developing low-end cars priced between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh. The R&D unit will come up with an investment of $40 million over 15 acres and will be operational in a year's time.
'i10', the company's latest offering to the market, would now be available between Rs 3.26 lakh and Rs 5.25 lakh, cheaper by up to Rs 18,381. HMIL also said its premium hatchback 'Getz' would be cheaper by Rs 13,413-Rs 19,422 across different variants.
Terming as "impossible" the Rs 1 lakh car that Tatas propose to roll out, particularly on safety aspects, Hyundai on Friday said it would like to bring an entry level car with a minimum price tag of $3000 like the one Renault is planning.
The Tatas sold over 14,466 Indica cars, which was slightly lower than the sales of 14,592 units of the Santro hatchback in January.
However, the company's cumulative sales (including exports) in November were up by 48.89 per cent to 43,105 units compared with 28,950 units in the year-ago period, HMIL said. Its exports for the month rose by nearly three-fold to 28,500 units, the same stood at 9,898 units during the same month in 2007.
The share of eastern India in the overall sales volume is also expected to grow from the existing 9 per cent to 15 per cent by 2010. At present, Hyundai sells around 1,000 units per month in eastern India.
In what signals an emerging battle among small car manufacturers, Hyundai Motors India Ltd has asked the country's apex auto association to act against moves by "some pressure groups" to change the definition of a small car.
Hyundai Motor India Limited plans to set up its own facility at the Chennai port for parking its vehicles for shipment, a top Hyundai official said on Wednesday.
Since Hyundai has developed its 'small cars' based on the current definition of 4,000 mm, it could lose out on excise benefit if the length were to be altered to 3,800 mm as per the auto policy.
Hyundai Motors India, the country's second-largest car firm, launched the diesel version of its top-end sedan Sonata Embera tagged at an introductory price of Rs 14.75 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The country's second biggest car maker Hyundai Motors will be hiking prices across its model range by up to Rs 15,000 from December end.
Within the first 15 days, it has hit the tarmac with 5,000 units, some 2,000 of which were logged in the first five days alone.
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission on Thursday advised auto giants Maruti and Hyundai not to target each other in advertisements and asked Maruti to file its reply to a complaint filed by its rival carmaker.
Hyundai Vice President (sales and marketing) Arvind Saxena told reporters at the launch of Verna in Kolkata on Wednesday that the second plant, coming up near the existing one near Chennai, would go on stream in 2008.
Exasperated by frequent labour strikes, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to give public utility status to Auto components makers. A move that has left labour unions fuming since, now, they won't be able to go on strike without issuing a notice of six weeks in advance.
Korean auto maker Hyundai Motor on Tuesday launched two variants of its premium compact hatch pack 'i20' priced at Rs 7.72 lakh for the top end model in the Indian market.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd, is floating its own advertising agency, Innocean, in India.
The two petrol models of the Logan are priced between Rs 428,000 and Rs 644,000, while its diesel model's price range is Rs 547,000 to Rs 651,000. The range overlaps the pricing of the premium hatchbacks as well as of mid-size cars.
Maruti Udyog, India's biggest carmaker, has been ranked first in customer satisfaction by international market research firm JD Power.