Growth in the Indian automobile industry was second only to China in 2010 as car sales surged 31% to 1.9m units. In December alone, domestic passenger car sales jumped 28.9% to 148,681 units compared to 115,337 units in 2009. So OEMs are making fresh investment in their local production facilities in India.
India’s second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is in the process of finalising another major expansion plan. A reliable high level source close to the development in the Tamil Nadu government said the plan would come before officials in January.
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Hyundai will submit a INR1.5bn (around US$333m) expansion plan to the state government shortly. State industries secretary Rajeev Ranjan told just-auto: “Hyundai would make the fresh investment in a diesel engine plant in Tamil Nadu.”
The car maker is expected to install one production line and other related infrastructure. Its facility at Sriperumbudur, about 30km (20 miles) west of Chennai, has a capacity of over 600,000 units annually, making it the second largest car manufacturer in India.
The Korean car maker is seeking incentives from the state government before giving the go-ahead to the investment, just-auto has learned.
In calendar year 2010 HMIL volume grew 7.8% to 603,819 units compared with 559,880 in 2009 with domestic sales rising 23.1% to 356,717 units in versus 289,863.
Overseas sales, however, declined to 247,102 units from 270,017 in 2009 likely reflecting the ending of scrappage schemes in European markets like the UK where the automaker‘s Indian-made entry level models were in particular demand.
