[RavenAvi]

The company achieved this record feat - a first for Hyundai Motor's Indian arm since it's inception - on Tuesday, the 23rd of December, 2014.

Speaking on the occasion, Rakesh Srivastava, vice-president and head (marketing and sales), Hyundai India, said that they expected to end 2014 with a total tally of 4,11,000 cars sold.

Hyundai sold its 400,000th car this year in India on Tuesday — the highest ever for the company in a year. It expects to sell about 411,000 cars by the end of December, said Rakesh Srivastava, vice-president and head (marketing and sales), on Wednesday. So far, only Maruti Suzuki has achieved that sales milestone in the country. For Hyundai, that would be an eight per cent rise in volume over last year.

Next year, the South Korean car maker aims to increase its annual India sales by a tenth, helped largely by the launch of new sports utility vehicles (SUVs). The vehicle maker has finalised a two-year plan to enter two of the country’s most promising segments with locally developed products. It will roll out two compact SUVs by the second half of next year and a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in 2016. The three products will have at least 90 per cent local content.

One of the SUVs will be positioned as a city rider and aim to take on Renault’s Duster, Ford’s EcoSport and Mahindra’s Scorpio. The second, likely to be positioned as an off-roader, is expected to create a new niche. The two SUVs are likely to have an entry price of Rs 9-10 lakh, said sector sources. The MPV will be pitted against Toyota’s Innova, the leader in the segment.

Complete Article - Business Standard

Pic Source - Official Team-BHP Review of the Hyundai Elite i20

[hillsnrains]

Great going Hyundai
The commitment shown by Hyundai towards Indian automobile market is commendable. They always improved their offerings at right time be it Verna or i20 based on the feedback from customers. Their products have the best fit and finish in almost all segments from Eon to Santafe. They make pretty reliable products as well. Hyundai deserves these sales numbers. With the new launches in 2015, i am sure they are going to set new record this year.

[GTO]

We've got 1 car of that number! Just bought a Grand i10 for my bhabhi.

On a serious note, success that is well-deserved. Segment-best interiors, good feature list, nice styling, excellent reliability & after-sales, frequently updated products and great pricing. Certainly not an easy feat as we see other global giants struggling in one / many of these areas.

In this fiercely competitive market, Hyundai & Maruti are going from strength to strength. Forget losing market share, they're actually taking some from newer players!

[mroptimist]

I have only one complaint with both Maruti & Hyundai, that both companies are laggards when it comes to safety. I personally would be happy to have fewer nice to have features but more safety features in all variants, in Maruti & Hyundais.

[wilful]

Hyundai (and Suzuki) have certainly struck a chord with our countrymen. And congrats to them for a job well done! They have perfected the art of giving what the average Indian car buyer desires. The big boys would do well to borrow a leaf from their book if they want to better their prospects here instead of making half hearted attempts, looking at the Indian market as an also ran.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by GTO

We've got 1 car of that number! Just bought a Grand i10 for my bhabhi.

Congratulations for the acquisition!

It's good to be a part of such a "number"!

Originally Posted by GTO

In this fiercely competitive market, Hyundai & Maruti are going from strength to strength. Forget losing market share, they're actually taking some from newer players!

I'd say that the 'so' called big players in the foreign market who command better value and brand image fall to their knees when they encounter Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai when they step into India. These giants are not a piece of leaf when it comes to reliability + customer satisfaction + pre & post sales when compared to Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.

All in all, hats off to Hyundai for achieving this feat even though they weren't popular a few years back.

Originally Posted by mroptimist

I have only one complaint with both Maruti & Hyundai, that both companies are laggards when it comes to safety. I personally would be happy to have fewer nice to have features but more safety features in all variants, in Maruti & Hyundais.

Spot-on. The worst in these two is Maruti Suzuki. Some sort of bells and whistles can be found in cars from Hyundai but cars from Maruti Suzuki are only for FE!

Hope in the coming times we get to see safer + sturdier + powerful cars from these manufacturers too.

Anurag.

[aaggoswami]

Well, I purchased Grand i10 diesel in Feb 2014.
While I agree that interior quality and fit and finish has won Hyundai many customers, it would be rather interesting to know how many are repeat customers.

A few positives for Hyundai and praises :

1) Simply the leader when it comes to providing quality interiors at a particular price point. While VW remains a leader, VW products are also priced higher. Hyundai pricing stays near or above Maruti, and gives almost 75%-80% of VW quality interiors.

2) They work on NVH a lot.

3) Small things like power window motors which are quick ( our Innova has slower power window motors than Grand i10 ), better rubber quality ( atleast in initial years ) do make a nice impression for consumer.

4) Very smart marketing campaigns, reasonable sales and service network. Efforts to keep the models refreshed and in tune with their international offerings. May be for exports, but they do some work on this parameter.

Negatives :

1) Like most of other manufacturers, Hyundai cheats Indian customer. Fixed head restrains in Indian grand i10, adjustable for exports. Sorry for repeating this, but somehow I feel Indian car buyers are cheated on this front : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3449025

2) Reduction in number of airbags in Elite i20, why so ? Lets wait on watch on this. May be they are saving it for mid life refresh.

3) Long term maintenance costs ( already a thread is on TBHP ) remain a question mark.

4) Long term quality and/or durability not as good as MSIL or Toyota or others. I found out the same hard way round. Same thing was faced by design HOD of the firm I work for. He also has back pain issues and discussed with me how the seats of his Hyundai santro sagged down. I have same issue in my Grand i10 in one year.

My personal take on Hyundai strategy :
Hyundai may not admit it but are always benchmarking sales leader in small car market atleast. My expectation from Hyundai is that they benchmark with segment best for safety and quality. I remember reading somewhere on net or ACI that Hyundai's aim is to be "most loved" automotive brand, but now their intentions may need to be scanned.

Compromising on no. of airbags in elite i20 ( which I believe has a stronger structure than outgoing car ) is an example. IMO, they are having their eyes set on Swift. MSIL gives safety feature, that too limited, on top end models. This is followed by Hyundai.

EON only targeted Alto, reason for not-so-typical-Hyundai characteristics. Alto K10 was a punch for Hyundai and they followed the same path rather than moving forward earlier the way they did in interior quality or even for crdi motors.

May be an exception, but I will think twice before putting my money on Hyundai again.

The best part :
A big Thanks to Hyundai for being the torch bearer when it comes to interior quality, NVH and feel good factor. I am sure MSIL would never have thought of giving electric folding ORVM on any of its small car were it not for Hyundai. I am aware Micra had them, but Nissan was never a big thread to market leader MSIL. Neither would any manufacturer in India initiated providing reverse camera without Hyundai.
Done their bit, but after Elite i20 I would reserve my views on Hyundai.

[narayan]

Adding to above pts Hyundai has always offered powerful diesels in its sedans and hatches and not looked to detune engines for better FE ( Getz, Accent - 3 cyl, Verna )

A relevant pt to note is that Hyundai has not embarked on a major capacity expansion in the recent past. They are at around 6.6L unit capacity for a long time. There were even reports recently quoting their senior mgmt expressing dis-satisfaction on local regulations and their reluctance to invest further in Tamil Nadu or India for that matter.

With exports coming down a bit, they will look to use that capacity for the local market. In fact, I feel only Hyundai has the ability to easily grow 15-20% next year if they free up capacity from the export share which will happen soon due to other Hyundai factories starting to supply to the traditional markets the India factory used to.

[AshBabu]

Great milestone for Hyundai. It is good to see the Korean car manufacturer standing the test of time and growing from strength to strength. They have built their reputation brick by brick in India which is a tough market to crack. When global giants are struggling to get a foothold in India, Hyundai's achievement is outstanding. Also successfully they have demolished the perception that Korean cars are inferior to Japanese make.

I think their sincere attempt in localization, features exceeding segment level, high interior quality, effective service and competitive pricing had stood them in good all these years and contributed to their success.

[libranof1987]

Hyundai clearly has worked hard towards this!

I feel Hyundai has fairly VFM offerings. They, along with Suzuki, have realized that the Indian public largely cares about the price and features list of a vehicle rather than safety features and build quality.

And that's exactly what they provide and it works for them.

Originally Posted by mroptimist

I have only one complaint with both Maruti & Hyundai, that both companies are laggards when it comes to safety. I personally would be happy to have fewer nice to have features but more safety features in all variants, in Maruti & Hyundais.

To their (tiny) credit though, they at least have some of those (O) variants which people can choose for more safety features.

But to your point, yes, they need to be more safety conscious.

[swiftnfurious]

I love the way Hyundai make progress! This is one manufacture who reads the market (probably better than Maruti) and makes impressive products. I am a big fan of the premium'ness of Elite i20 (NOT the car as a whole though) and how it is an aspirational product. The way they have improved upon the quality, design shows how focussed they are. And the latest news on the focus on performance division - no wonder you guys keep on improving the benchmark.

[mallumowgli]

One of the SUVs will be positioned as a city rider and aim to take on Renault’s Duster, Ford’s EcoSport and Mahindra’s Scorpio. The second, likely to be positioned as an off-roader, is expected to create a new niche.

The off-roader bit is news. Which of the current crop of SUVs in the Hyundai international line-up can be considered an off-roader?

[aak91]

Great going Hyundai! Truly well deserved. Hyundai range of cars are truly what Indians want. Great Looks, Easy on maintenance, Comfortable modern interiors and most importantly high on safety. The only problem according me to me is the "fun to drive" factor of the cars. They somehow feel dull.

But I hope that's going to change with the BMW M performance engineer they just hired.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The off-roader bit is news. Which of the current crop of SUVs in the Hyundai international line-up can be considered an off-roader?

ix25 I guess! C'mon, India has different definitions for SUVs. The urban SUV they refer to may be cross Elite i20 (there were spy pics posted on that). Other than that, I really can't recollect two "SUVs"

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The off-roader bit is news. Which of the current crop of SUVs in the Hyundai international line-up can be considered an off-roader?

Elite i20 Cross!

Or else the Santa FE which looks like an SUV for our pothole fooled roads that makes fault driving equal to mini-offroading.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

C'mon, India has different definitions for SUVs.

Lol!

Anurag.