Hyundai planning Nano, Alto rivals and outlets in rural India

2011 Hyundai Verna RB

Hyundai is the second largest car manufacturer in India and to maintain its current position, the company has chalked out a couple of ambitious plans for the future. Hyundai is now looking at expanding into uncharted territories. Rural India is on the list of HMIL and plans to expand to these markets in a bid to increase their market share.

The Korean automaker is planning to setup 1000 outlets in rural areas of India and also introduce an affordable car. This comes as Hyundai started to lose market share to rivals Ford and Volkswagen lately. “We are looking strongly at these markets and want to focus on growing our network there,” Arvind Saxena, the carmaker’s India director for sales and marketing, said in an interview yesterday in New Delhi.

Hyundai-santro

Ford and Volkswagen have been very aggressive with their marketing and product introduction and have expanded their reach into major cities and towns of India. The rural market still has the potential for growth and automakers will look to target this in the near future. According to analyst, Darius Lam of J.D. Power, “Urban markets will be more and more difficult to grow so most automobile manufacturers will have to focus on rural markets.”

The new car that Hyundai has on cards will be priced low to take on Maruti Suzuki’s Alto small car. The car will be priced under Rs 293,902, the current price of the Santro which is the cheapest car Hyundai make. Secondly, Hyundai is planning to introduce a car that will rival Tata Motors’ Nano small car as well. The company yesterday launched the new Verna which is priced in the bracket of Rs 6.99-Rs 10.74 ex-showroom Delhi. Ford is expected to launch the Fiesta sedan soon that will take on the Verna. The car has already been revealed but the official launch is impending.

Via Bloomberg

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