[GRAND23]

There was a question floating in mind for long time and I thought today to put it in front of all BHPians. Can Hyundai/Kia be No.1 manufacturer in India in next 5-10 years? I personally believe “hell yeah!”.

When I say No.1, I mean market share. Currently Suzuki has 53% share of Indian market and followed by Hyundai with 16% and Kia is about 5.8%. For parent Hyundai company, it’s almost 22% market share. I sense Hyundai/Kia jointly can put more share number, say close to 50% and above in next 5-10 years. I know it is not going to be easy, but definitely not impossible. Suzuki is not going to handover crown so easily and will be interesting to see what is their upcoming strategy to defend Kia/Hyundai.

Going by today’s market, Kia just gave the boost which parent Hyundai company required. Starting from Sonet to Grand Carnival, all cars are destined to be segment leaders. There is no doubt that Kia has woke up all lazy and slow-moving manufacturers. This is definitely good news for us. The benchmark defined by Kia is simply superb. It can be engine, gearbox, features, customer service and the list goes on. Can other manufacturers meet the standards? Let’s wait and see how others will compete.
The way I see today, Kia is playing the game which other previous manufacturers didn’t. Not even Hyundai. Kia launched the Seltos last year and now Carnival. And they are gearing up for Sonet, Sorento, Stinger. One can observe closely that they have launched the cars in almost pretty good segments and all launches are aggressive. Kia definitely wants Indian market to take message that they have potential cars in all segments. IMHO, this is indeed key message which shall help Kia to survive in Indian market for long time.

Suzuki couldn’t capture the 10 lakhs and above segment and Hyundai couldn’t capture 20 lakhs and above segment. The simple reason in my opinion is the impression which was set by Hyundai and Suzuki over the years. I completely agree that when Suzuki and Hyundai were playing a game the car market was small and they have to obey that. But now, the market has changed. It has got long range and it’s better to capture first and ASAP. Kia might have researched this and would have thought to launch the cars in all segments which shall appeal for wider audience. Ofcourse, there is a limit for Kia too. But atleast they will be capturing more segments than what Suzuki and Hyundai did.

As I said earlier, I personally would want Hyundai/Kia to lead the Indian market as No.1 manufacturer in coming years. Let me know what other BHPians think.

[pganapathy]

I don't think Hyundai/Kia can manage unless they start manufacturing cheaper cars. Yes, they had the Eon, but otherwise the i10/Santro is the cheapest one now. Maruti still has the Alto and Omni which sell decent numbers. No doubt their single best-selling model is the Swift, but their cheaper car volumes are quite huge.

Plus Maruti service centres are still more widespread than Hyundai. Don't forget that the rural areas and smaller towns are still a very important market.

[romeomidhun]

My answer is a big yes and that too in no time, provided, they have to take over Maruti from Suzuki. If not, it will remain as a distant dream for them. It takes a lot to be Maruti.

[landcruiser123]

As long as cars remain an aspirational item, MSIL will cut as many corners as possible to stay ahead of the pack. With regards to technical expertise and hybrid/electric powertrains, big daddy Toyota will assist them.

TL;DR- NO.

[The Rationalist]

I don't think Hyundai/Kia should even try to be no: 1, as it will mean to stoop to Maruti level and bring out low quality products. That would be disastrous for us customers. Rather Hyundai/Kia should aspire to bring out safer cars and force Maruti to follow suit. If Maruti continues their cheap game, it's their problem. Maruti will become obsolete in the long run, just look at what happened to Kodak, Nokia and all. We Indians deserve to get better cars, since we are paying premium money for cars when compared to developed countries.

[YashD]

Even though I am a Hyundai loyalist and absolutely loved the Kia products launched in India, sadly, this is going to be a dream for at least the time line you are expecting.

The reason is simple, you don't have the trust value which Maruti Suzuki vehicles still have irrespective of any other factor, furthermore, Maruti unlike other manufacturers sticks to its forte and doesn't experiment. The company has understood that it's best bet is to stick to the 10 Lakh mark and below and well their portfolio does all the talking.

As Landcruiser123 said, till the time a car is an aspirational item, Maruti is going to rule the charts. Moreover, thanks to its huge After sales service they built over the years no other manufacturer has been able to match up to that.

Also, I feel both Hyundai and Kia doesn't wants to be the market leader anymore, instead they want to improve their brand image and up the value. As HMIL has realised it cannot take on the giant hence it wants to do what it does best, create a practical premium package with someone cannot refuse. The i20 & Creta are clear example of it. I feel this strategy indeed would work for them better as now people have finally realised that Hyundai indeed is capable of making premium vehicles and now with the entry of Kia the trust of consumers is just going to increase in both the brands and I'm sure it won't take them much time to be better than the Japs (T & H) and Germans (VW & Czech) as both the brand has understood what Indian customers desires.

[libranof1987]

Per the Jan '20 reports, the market leader, Maruti Suzuki, is at 53% market share and no. 2, Hyundai, at 16%. 22% with Kia's numbers combined. That's 1.4 lakh units vs. 57k/month. Just look at that staggering difference.

Unless Maruti shuts shop in India, it just seems improbable that Hyundai+Kia will be no. 1 in India in the short/medium term, possibly ever because it would mean sale of 1 lakh more or increase of 200% more sales.

- For that, these two need segment leading (by a huge margin) cars in every segment, from 2 lakh to 20, maybe 25

- Even if they have the development, their infrastructure (for manufacturing, sales and service) would need to scale up that much faster, which is unlikely to happen within 3-5 years unless they take over a fully functional plant

- The marketing blitz would need to be something never seen in the history of India!

I've not even mentioned the biggest contributor: the change in perception of the Indian public. To look away from what makes Maruti tick.

[vb-saan]

Unless the car-buying public gets more awareness of safety standards and their perceived definition of VFM change, Suzuki will stay on top for the next few years at least. Things could change if someone go big on the EV scene and the demand for petrol/diesel cars drastically diminish.

And if Hyundai and Kia are considered as one entity in this comparison, why not consider re-badged Toyota numbers into the mix? It gets even more hard to beat then

[Arjun Reddy]

I do not even think if Hyundai/Kia run at full production capacity they can produce what a Maruti can in 15 days.

Also it is about the semi urban/rural reach as well. Maruti has pretty much covered rural India beyond tier 2/3 towns as well with their sales and service network.

There is a long way to go for anyone who has to challenge the might of Maruti's reach in India.

Hyundai/Kia are doing well and should not aim for Maruti. As a strategy they will keep taking market share from other manufacturers who predominantly have an urban reach.

If you see Maruti has actually fought back from around 49% market share a year ago to 53% again.

[arindambasu13]

This is very very unlikely . At least for the foreseeable future. Indian mentality is so entrenched with the brand equity and virtues of Maruti that it will be a near impossible task to cross that hurdle and top the biggest carmaker in the country in terms of sheer volumes.

To be fair, Maruti does have considerable number of virtues which have endeared it to the public. Then again, the new age consumer is looking increasingly at brands other than Maruti, but for that to translate to making numbers higher than Maruti will take years at the very least.

[GRAND23]

Going by the recent sales figures and analysis, one can see how body distribution is trending. The hatchback and sedan's are gradually going down. The SUV market is in boom. I agree with fellow BHPians that highest volumes are contributed by lower segments. These segments are dominated by Maruti especially in rural areas. But during my recent visit to my village, I see the trend is now changing and more people are willing to go for different cars such as Hyundai, Kia, Ford, Honda. This time when I had been to my village, I saw Ford Ecosport and Hyundai venue parked in most of the houses.

I can't comment anything on electric cars as it's still it is no one's game. It's a new battle altogether.

[skumar]

Number of car sales is one way to look, but if you think of revenue from sales & services they may cross Maruti Suzuki sooner than compared to number of cars.

[Nav-i-gator]

We are forgetting Toyota here, which might become the parent company of Suzuki. And together, they can continue to dominate entire range of segments - entry to mid suzuki, mid to premium Toyota and Lexus above that.

[Thermodynamics]

Likely not in IC engine space because if they were capable, Hyundai would have been already a market leader, two decades is a long time.

But things may change in the EV space. Hyundai has an impressive start with Kona. But we cannot under-estimate MSIL, I admire their agility considering the size.

[sreejithkk]

It will not happen until the majority of the sales are coming from cars costing over 10+ lakh ex-showroom. We have already seen how Maruti fought back with Brezza against ecosport and Baleno against i20, and became the top seller in the respective segments, which was created by other manufactures. And I do not think safety is a trump card for Hyundai cars in the lower budget as well. So far only 3 Hyundai cars for India was tested by GNCAP and their score was same as that of the Maruti counterparts.