Hyundai Motor India, currently second, wants to overtake market leader Maruti Suzuki one way or another by the end of the decade.
CH Han, chief coordinator of Hyundai Motor India, told the Economic Times of India he wanted leadership position “if not in numbers but definitely to be the most-loved brand”.
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Hyundai will launch three compact cars in India over the next 18 months starting with the redesigned i10 (appended with ‘Grand’ locally) with a 1.1 litre diesel engine option, targeting Maruti’s Swift, the one-litre Eon, aimed at the Alto K10, and the redesigned i20.
Compact small cars account for 52% of the overall Indian passenger vehicle market – 1.41m sales in fiscal 2013. Maruti Suzuki’s share was 48% while Hyundai grabbed only 22%.
In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Hyundai increased share to 25%.
“We will continuously introduce one or two new models every year. In the small car space, we should have products in every segment, and it should be one of the best,” Han said. “We are also very strong in bigger car segment already, that’s why I think we have a bright future in India and we will continue to build our market share,” he added.
The 8-10 launches in the next three to four years include a sub-four metre sedan in the second half of 2014, followed by a multi-purpose vehicle to take on Maruti’s Ertiga and a compact SUV positioned between the Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster in 2015-16. The Genesis is also being eyed for India.
“Hyundai definitely will eat into Maruti Suzuki’s share, but the gap is so large that it is highly unlikely that Hyundai can overtake Maruti…. Not in the next 5-7 years at least,” an automobile consultant told the Economic Times.
“Maruti Suzuki on its part is not sitting still. The company is aggressively building its portfolio of diesel cars and bigger cars as well. The fact that Maruti has regained some lost market share in the recent past clearly underlines the strong affinity the brand enjoys today,” the person added.
But the paper noted Maruti Suzuki has local capacity to make almost 1.5m cars a year and is adding another 250,000. Hyundai Motor India, in comparison, has a capacity of 650,000 units a year.
Maruti Suzuki also has far wider reach with 1,200-1,300 sales points against Hyundai’s around 690 showrooms.
Maruti in turn plans to roll out 6-7 vehicles in the next three four years, right from small cars and sedans to crossovers and utility vehicles. The first off the block will be a small car, YL7, in the first quarter of 2014, which will eventually have the company’s own first 800 cc diesel engine. It will be followed by an all-new SX4 sedan, SX4 crossover and a compact SUV based on the XA Alpha concept. Apart from these, Maruti plans to launch variants of some existing models, the paper said.
