Hyundai Motor’s 20-year success story in India

Hyundai Motor’s 20-year success story in India. May. 11, 2016 07:31. by 신수정기자 crystal@donga.com. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hyundai Motor’s entering into the Indian market. The leading Korean automaker is keeping an advantage in the market ranking the 2nd in domestic sales and No.1 in exports amid sluggish sales in other developing markets such as China, Brazil, and Russia.

According to the automobile industry, the company sold 119,933 cars in India during the first quarter of this year, taking 16.7 percent of market share. The overall sales of complete automobiles in India increased by 2.2 percent in the first quarter year-on-year, while Hyundai saw a whopping 7.5 percent growth. Last year, Hyundai sold more cars in India (476,001 units) than in across Europe (470,130 units) for the first time.

Hyundai Motor India was established in May 1996. It began mass production of its strategic model Santro at Plant 1 located near Chennai, Tamil Nadu in September 1998, and Plant 2 later started operation in 2008, bringing its manufacturing capacity up to 650,000 units annually. Plant 1 produces six representative models of Eon, i20, Active i20, Elantra, Santa Fe, and Creta, while Plant 2 manufactures four models of i10, Grand i10, Verna, and Accent.

Hyundai Motor India’s sales within the territory has gradually increased since it first sold a total of 8,477 units in 1998, exceeding 100,000 for the first time in 2002, and reaching 411,417 in 2014. The accumulated number of domestic sales surpassed 4 million last November, leading the Indian market after India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki.

Hyundai Motor India also exports 40 percent of all vehicles manufactured in Indian plants. Since the first exports took place in 1999, the number continued to rise with more than 2.36 million vehicles sold outside India over the past 18 years until March this year, the highest among competitors.

The automobile industry attributes such a successful performance of Hyundai Motor India to the setting up of localized manufacturing system as well as the building of strong brand earlier than its counterparts.

India is a huge and fast growing market with a population of more than 1.2 billion, where all global car makers wish to advance into. The market size grew by 8.5 percent last year to 2.75 million vehicles year-on-year, a higher growth rate than the Chinese market at 5.6 percent. The current penetration level of personal vehicles remains at 2.6 per 10,000 people, leaving a great potential for growth.

“The biggest factor behind today’s success of Hyundai Motor India is laying a strong foundation early in the market,” said an official of Hyundai Motor. "We are currently reviewing plans to expand manufacturing capacities of the factories to meet India's rapidly growing domestic demands.