Hyundai has plans to launch two new products this year (the Elantra and the Tucson). We speak to Rakesh Srivastava, ‎Sr. Vice President ( Sales & Marketing ) at Hyundai Motor India Ltd – ‎Hyundai Motor India Ltd about how is the company looking at the near future.

  1. Hyundai has been running short on production capacity, how will the company manage to meet the needs with two new launches this year

Hyundai Motor India’s manufacturing facility in Chennai produces 6.8 Lac units a year and the capacity can be expanded to over 7 lac units annually. The production lines are flexible and can be altered on real time basis depending upon the market demand for a particular product and assessment of trends by the company. We have adequate capacity to meet the demand for our existing as well as fresh products in India.

  1. Is there a waiting period on the Creta? What is the earliest a person can get a Creta?

Hyundai Creta – The Perfect SUV has raced to over 120,000 bookings within 9 months and won hearts of millions of customers. The products is available across dealerships in India within one month of booking.

  1. How does Hyundai see the AMT and dual-clutch transmission for India? Does it fit in with Hyundai India?

At Hyundai our mission is to be lifetime partners in automobiles and beyond for our customers. Hence we lay a great emphasis on improving mobility by the use of technology. We already have automatic transmission in Grand, Xcent, Creta, Verna, Elantra & Santa Fe. And we have recently introduced Creta Petrol 6-speed automatic after witnessing a huge demand for the product. The diesel version is already recording superlative sales.

  1. Could we see the return of the Santro just like the Accent (XCent)? Or will Eon new-gen will be continued?

Hyundai Santro was India’s first tall boy car, introduced nearly 20 years ago. The vehicle enjoyed great success and was instrumental in establishing Hyundai’s credential as a manufacturer of quality in the hearts of millions of Indian families. Currently do not have any plans of introducing Santro again.

  1. Could we expect factory-fitted CNG on Hyundai cars? A lot of competition is moving towards micro/smart hybrid, could we expect anything from Hyundai?

Hyundai Motor India currently offers company approved CNG kits for Eon, i10, Grand and Xcent. We believe that the market for a hybrid vehicle is in its infancy at the moment and the regulators need to look at developing the allied infrastructure to support the move to hybrids. Hyundai’s global portfolio has Hybrids for Sonata etc. in select markets and we will be happy to introduce them at a right time in India.

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