Hyundai eyes SUV leadership position with modern premium tag

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) is targeting leadership in the Indian SUV market backed by the launch of new offerings in this space.

The company is preparing to roll out its new SUV Tucson during October or November this year. It will be positioned between Creta and the premium SUV Santa Fe.

“We want to grow strongly in the SUV segment. The Creta segment has grown by 40 per cent in the past seven months. With the new SUV Tucson, we will further strengthen our modern premium focus as also SUV portfolio. Tucson will be priced around ₹25 lakh and will be powered by 2.0 litre petrol and diesel engines,” said YK Koo, Managing Director, HMIL, said at the launch of Hyundai’s new Elantra here.

With the Creta sustaining strong volumes on the back of favourable growth outlook, HMIL is hopeful of boosting its presence and volumes with the new launches. In addition to Tucson, HMIL is also working on sub-4 metre SUV, which will be an entry SUV for Hyundai in India. This is expected to hit the market in the next couple of years.

“We are seeing a good space to fill in between Creta and Santa Fe segment in the SUV market. Tucson will create its own segment of buyers. With the proposed sub-4 metre SUV, we will have four products on different price segments to attract SUV buyers. With such a strong portfolio, we will aim for leadership position in the SUV market,” said Rakesh Srivastava, Senior Vice- President – Sales and Marketing, HMIL.

Explaining further, he said the new products sustain momentum in the SUV market. “The market started to decline before Creta launch. But, after Creta roll out market expanded and the volumes also started growing significantly.”

In view of the strong demand, HMIL has increased production of Creta to 13,000 units from about 7,500 units earlier. It is also exported to many countries. Creta’s domestic monthly sales is around 7,500 units.

The second largest car maker in India said it has established itself as a strong compact brand. But its vision is to become a modern premium brand (between mass and premium position) with the roll out of next generation vehicles.

Koo said that its newly launched sixth generation Elantra and upcoming Tucson will help realise its modern premium tag.

He also said that new Elantra would aim to achieve leadership position in the executive segment, which has been dominated by Toyota Corolla.

“The segment sales is around 1,000 units only. New Elantra would aim to fetch 30-35 per cent share. Earlier, it had a share of 15-20 per cent,” he added.

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