The Korean car manufacturer, Hyundai Motors is planning to enter into the sub Rs.10 lakh price utility vehicle segment in the Indian market after witnessing the market success of its rivals with products like the Maruti Ertiga and Renault Duster. The sub Rs. 10 lakh SUV/MUV segment is the latest craze in the Indian automotive scenario with almost every manufacturer vying for a piece of that market with their product. Other companies who will be entering the space in future include Ford with its compact crossover SUV Ford EcoSport and Mahindra & Mahindra with its Mini Xylo aka Mahindra Quanto. Ford will come out with its EcoSport in early next 2013 while the Mahindra Quanto will be launched at the later half of 2012.
This news was revealed by two senior Hyundai officials on grounds of anonymity at the launch event of the Hyundai Elantra. They also added that the company has just started to carry out market research in this field to gauge the commercial viability of such a product for Hyundai. Although the product will be India and other developing country specific, yet it will be designed and developed according to global standards and on a global platform.
The company is also yet to decide whether the product will be a Sports Utility Vehicle SUV) or a Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV). Mr. Rakesh Srivastava, vice-president (national sales), Hyundai Motor India also reiterated the development stating that the UV segment has been evolving and growing very rapidly in the last two years and currently Hyundai Motors is in the process of studying the market and will announce its plans when ready.
At the Auto Expo 2012, Hyundai India showcased its MPV concept- the Hyundai Hexa Space which is meant to be a potent challenger to the likes of Maruti Ertiga and Mahindra Xylo, but as per these recent statement, it appears that Hyundai may also take an SUV route to challenge Duster rather than Ertiga with its upcoming utility vehicle.
Hyundai Motors recently re-launched the Elantra sedan in the Indian market. Last time when Hyundai had launched the Elantra sedan few years back it failed to gauge the expected customer response. Now, with a complete design change and incorporating its fluidic language, Hyundai launched it starting from Rs. 12.51 lakhs for the gasoline and Rs. 12.91 for the diesel variant.
via – LiveMint
