New Delhi: Huge backlogs and waiting periods due to pent-up demand may be a thing of the past as Hyundai Motor India has witnessed fresh demand for its vehicles as supply issues are “more or less” over.
In an interview with The Print, Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The biggest thing is that now we are not talking about pending orders. Earlier, all the growth coming in was because of pent-up demand amid supply issues. The good thing about the last two-three months is that we are getting back to the old sales practice of getting new customers and converting them into sales.”
He added the semiconductor issues are “more or less behind us”. The waiting periods for Hyundai’s cars has also come down to about two to three months, depending on the model as compared to six months or more at one point due to supply constraints after the pandemic.
Hyundai on Monday forayed into the micro-SUV segment with Exter which is priced between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 9.31 lakh (ex-showroom). The car will compete with Tata Motor’s Punch in this segment.
Garg said while the entry-level SUV segment is currently about 10,000 units a month, it has the potential to double to 20,000 units. “The Indian market is clearly moving towards SUVs. This (entry) is one segment where overall volumes are very high. So, while for an entry SUV, the segment is about 10,000 units a month, if you look at the price range, this is a very big market. We believe that this will really attract customers from segments such as hatchbacks. This is a very good segment to be in… this could be a real game changer, not only for Hyundai but in the Indian auto industry.”
He added this was the company’s eighth SUV model. “And now we are the only OEM (original equipment manufacturer) present in all SUV segments. We are now a full-range SUV maker and we believe very strongly that this segment will explode. There is only Tata’s Punch in the segment right now. So we believe there is a lot of upside,” he added.
The sales of hatchbacks, Garg said, has been declining with people showing preference for SUVs. The share of hatchbacks in the overall passenger vehicle market has come down from 46% in 2019 to 33% in 2022. In contrast, the share of SUVs has grown from 26% in 2019 to 42% in 2022.
“We currently have 54% of the SUV market, we can reach 60% with Exter launch,” Garg said. He added in the first half of 2023, the company has sold 296,010 vehicles, a growth of 10.5% from 267,967 units in January-June 2022.
“… So things are looking good, and this growth was without Exter. So, we are poised for good growth this year.”
Exter comes with six airbags as standard across all its variants – a first in the segment, and is available in three powertrain options — 1.2 l Kappa petrol engine with choice of 5-speed MT and Smart Auto AMT and 1.2 l Bi-fuel Kappa petrol and CNG with 5-speed MT.
It also boasts of a voice-enabled sunroof, Dashcam with Dual Camera, an 8-inch HD infotainment system and smartphone wireless charger, among other things.
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