Hyundai Kona sales stand above 130 units in three months and its actually better than what was expected, particularly because of the incentives the of government is offering.
Hyundai launched the Kona in India in July this year and since then, it has seen quite a warm response in the market. Before its launch, Hyundai had dispatched 25 units of the Kona to its select 15 dealerships across 11 cities in June to stock their inventories. Further, Hyundai shipped 17 more units of the Kona in July and then again 88 units in August – the highest yet – taking the total sales number to 130 units in three months since its launch.
Hyundai had received 152 bookings for the Kona at its launch. The sudden increase in its numbers for the month of August can be attributed to the fact that the government significantly reduced GST on electric vehicles to give electric mobility a push in India. The Kona was launched for an ex-showroom price of Rs. 25.30 lakhs. However, after the revision of the GST rates for EVs in the FY2020 Union Budget, the Kona had an ex-showroom price of Rs 23.71 lakh, a significant drop by Rs. 1.59 lakhs.
The government reduced the GST on EVs from 12% to 5% and also offered several other benefits like tax reductions in the FY2020 Union Budget to encourage more buyers to buy electric vehicles. Moreover, some states like Telangana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have come up with their own EV policies to further favor buying of electric vehicles in the respective states. This even includes incentives such as 100% exemption from road tax on EV adoption. So electric vehicles will only get more popular by the day.
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Apart from private buyers, corporate employee transportation companies – such as Lithium Urban Technologies – are also trying to incorporate the Kona in their all-EV fleets in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. However, its still too expensive for ride sharing companies such as Ola and Uber to incorporate electric vehicles in their fleet. The Kona is really a halo product for Hyundai meant to show their technological capabilities when it comes to EV technology.
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That said, Hyundai is also evaluating to introduce a mass market ‘small EV’, developed specifically for India. Currently, the Kona comes in the country as a CKD unit but Hyundai has more ambitious plans. Hyundai’s global road map includes 25 new EVs to be launched by 2025 and some of them are certainly coming to India. Hyundai is also looking at investing in a completely new battery manufacturing plant in India.
